| 1. |
- Bechsgaard, Jesper, et al.
(author)
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Evidence for Faster X Chromosome Evolution in Spiders
- 2019
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In: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 36:6, s. 1281-1293
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In species with chromosomal sex determination, X chromosomes are predicted to evolve faster than autosomes because of positive selection on recessive alleles or weak purifying selection. We investigated X chromosome evolution in Stegodyphus spiders that differ in mating system, sex ratio, and population dynamics. We assigned scaffolds to X chromosomes and autosomes using a novel method based on flow cytometry of sperm cells and reduced representation sequencing. We estimated coding substitution patterns (dN/dS) in a subsocial outcrossing species (S. africanus) and its social inbreeding and female-biased sister species (S. mimosarum), and found evidence for faster-X evolution in both species. X chromosome-to-autosome diversity (piX/piA) ratios were estimated in multiple populations. The average piX/piA estimates of S. africanus (0.57 [95% CI: 0.55–0.60]) was lower than the neutral expectation of 0.75, consistent with more hitchhiking events on X-linked loci and/or a lower X chromosome mutation rate, and we provide evidence in support of both. The social species S. mimosarum has a significantly higher piX/piA ratio (0.72 [95% CI: 0.65–0.79]) in agreement with its female-biased sex ratio. Stegodyphus mimosarum also have different piX/piA estimates among populations, which we interpret as evidence for recurrent founder events. Simulations show that recurrent founder events are expected to decrease the piX/piA estimates in S. mimosarum, thus underestimating the true effect of female-biased sex ratios. Finally, we found lower synonymous divergence on X chromosomes in both species, and the male-to-female substitution ratio to be higher than 1, indicating a higher mutation rate in males.
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| 2. |
- Grinsted, Lena, et al.
(author)
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Diverging cooperative prey capture strategies in convergently evolved social spiders
- 2022
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In: Journal of Arachnology. - 0161-8202. ; 50:2, s. 256-264
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sociality in spiders has evolved independently multiple times, resulting in convergently evolved cooperative breeding and prey capture. In all social spiders, prey is captured by only a subset of group members and then shared with other, non-attacking group members. However, spiders' propensity to attack prey may differ among species due to species-specific trade-offs between risks, costs and benefits of prey capture involvement. We explored whether engagement in prey attack differs among three social Stegodyphus species, using orthopteran prey, and found substantial differences. Stegodyphus mimosarum Pavesi, 1883 had a low prey acceptance rate, was slow to attack prey, and engaged very few spiders in prey attack. In S. sarasinorum Karsch, 1892, prey acceptance was high, independently of prey size, but more spiders attacked when prey was small. While medium-sized prey had higher acceptance rate in S. dumicola Pocock, 1898, indicating a preference, the number of attackers was not affected by prey size. Our results suggest that the three species may have different cooperative prey capture strategies. In S. mimosarum and S. dumicola, whose geographical ranges overlap, these strategies may represent niche specialization, depending on whether their respective cautious and choosy approaches extend to other prey types than orthopterans, while S. sarasinorum may have a more opportunistic approach. We discuss factors that can affect social spiders' foraging strategy, such as prey availability, predation pressure, and efficiency of the communal web to ensnare prey. Future studies are required to investigate to which extent species-specific cooperative foraging strategies are shaped by ontogeny, group size, and plastic responses to environmental factors.
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| 3. |
- Grinsted, Lena, et al.
(author)
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Prey to predator body size ratio in the evolution of cooperative hunting—a social spider test case
- 2020
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In: Development, Genes and Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-944X .- 1432-041X. ; 230:2, s. 173-184
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- One of the benefits of cooperative hunting may be that predators can subdue larger prey. In spiders, cooperative, social species can capture prey many times larger than an individual predator. However, we propose that cooperative prey capture does not have to be associated with larger caught prey per se, but with an increase in the ratio of prey to predator body size. This can be achieved either by catching larger prey while keeping predator body size constant, or by evolving a smaller predator body size while maintaining capture of large prey. We show that within a genus of relatively large spiders, Stegodyphus, subsocial spiders representing the ancestral state of social species are capable of catching the largest prey available in the environment. Hence, within this genus, the evolution of cooperation would not provide access to otherwise inaccessible, large prey. Instead, we show that social Stegodyphus spiders are smaller than their subsocial counterparts, while catching similar sized prey, leading to the predicted increase in prey-predator size ratio with sociality. We further show that in a genus of small spiders, Anelosimus, the level of sociality is associated with an increased size of prey caught while predator size is unaffected by sociality, leading to a similar, predicted increase in prey-predator size ratio. In summary, we find support for our proposed ‘prey to predator size ratio hypothesis’ and discuss how relaxed selection on large body size in the evolution of social, cooperative living may provide adaptive benefits for ancestrally relatively large predators.
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