Copulatory and Post-copulatory Sexual Selection in Haplogyne Spiders, with Emphasis on Pholcidae and Oonopidae

Abstract

Cryptic female choice (CFC) in spiders may involve several mechanisms to bias paternity including early termination of copulation, remating likelihood, and sperm dumping. In Pholcidae, these mechanisms seem to be very common and will be examined in the present chapter. In the Pholcidae Physocyclus globosus, sperm dumping involves an active role of the female. In contrast, in the Pholcidae Holocnemus pluchei, sperm mass ejection during copulation is mainly under male control. In another haplogyne spider, the Oonopidae Opopaea fosuma, females are able to influence male’s chances of rearing their offspring by also exerting CFC by sperm dumping. Among pholcids, rhythmic genitalic movements of the pedipalps (squeezes) during copulation have been interpreted as genitalic copulatory courtship. Additionally, recent studies have evaluated the possibility that the outcome of male–female copulatory communication affects paternity. Future attention to the behavior of both female and male, and to the possible dialogues during copulation, promises to be a valuable tool in understanding sexual interactions in these spiders.