Sociable widow spiders? Evidence of subsociality in Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Theridiidae)

@article{Bertani2007SociableWS,
  title={Sociable widow spiders? Evidence of subsociality in Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Theridiidae)},
  author={Rogerio Bertani and Caroline Sayuri Fukushima and Rosana Martins},
  journal={Journal of Ethology},
  year={2007},
  volume={26},
  pages={299-302}
}
A first case of subsociality is reported for the genus Latrodectus. Individuals were found sharing the same web and feeding together. In captivity they showed mutual tolerance and communal feeding. This finding is remarkable for two reasons. First, widow spiders, even compared with other spiders, are famously aggressive and cannibalistic so that social behavior in the genus was unexpected. Second, the genus nests outside the “Anelosimus + lost colulus” clade where all the other social… 
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  • E. YipL. S. Rayor
  • Biology
    Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
  • 2014
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