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  Website Update: Email Subscriptions Discontinued I want to share an important update regarding email subscriptions and newsletters on Arácnido Taxonomy. Effective immediately, I have discontinued using Mailchimp for email newsletter subscriptions. Over the past several days, the subscription system and associated website functions have been subjected to persistent automated bot activity and attempted exploitation. In addition to generating unwanted subscription activity, these requests have contributed to periods of reduced website performance. To help protect the website, its content, and legitimate visitors, the Mailchimp subscription and registration functions have been removed. Following Arácnido Taxonomy via RSS For the foreseeable future, RSS will be the primary way to subscribe to and follow new posts and updates from Arácnido Taxonomy. RSS provides a simple, direct way to receive new content without submitting an email address or creating an account. Once the Arácnido Ta...

Homotypic assortative mating is consistent across temporal scales in the spider Mecynogea lemniscata (Araneidae)

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Homotypic assortative mating is consistent across temporal scales in the spider Mecynogea lemniscata (Araneidae)

Abstract

Identifying patterns of size-assortative mating (SAM) indicates the direction of genetic changes in a population. A reliable method for estimating it in a population is to measure mate assortments within and between breeding seasons¸ as well as describing size variation of males and females between temporal scales to avoid Simpson’s paradox. We assessed sexual size dimorphism, the effects of ontogeny, size differences within each sex, the consistency of SAM within and between seasons, and male mate choice in the spider Mecynogea lemniscata. We collected mating pairs in a Eucalyptus plantation across two breeding seasons and in four periods of the second season. We measured body mass and carapace width of spiders. Males matured earlier than females and guarded subadult partners. Although adults were larger and heavier than subadults, ontogeny did not affect SAM. Females were generally heavier than males in the second season but not in first, but mate assortments were random based on body mass in both seasons. Females showed a smaller carapace width in the first season and a larger one than males in the second season. Despite varying size differences between seasons, SAM remained homotypic based on carapace width across seasons and within the second season. Hence, homotypic SAM was consistent across different temporal scales. Male mate choice was not affected by female size. Unlike other species, temporal variation in the size of M. lemniscata spiders did not disrupt SAM, indicating that a consistent SAM can influence evolutionary changes in body size in this population.
Moura, R. R., Xavier, G. M., De Castro, V. C., Silva, W. D., Valentim, A. M., & Gonzaga, M. O. (2026). Homotypic assortative mating is consistent across temporal scales in the spider Mecynogea lemniscata (Araneidae). Zoologischer Anzeiger. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2026.04.009