Diurnal and nocturnal prey luring of a colorful predator

Abstract

While animal color signaling has been studied for decades, we have little knowledge of the role conspicuous body coloration plays in the nocturnal context. In this study we explored animal color signaling in both diurnal and nocturnal contexts to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of its function. We quantified how the brightly colored giant wood spiders Nephila pilipes are viewed by nocturnal insects, and performed field manipulations to assess the function of a spider's coloration in both diurnal and nocturnal conditions. Seen through the eyes of moths, the conspicuous body parts of spiders are quite distinctive from the vegetation background. The presence of N. pilipes significantly increased the diurnal as well as the nocturnal prey interception rates of their webs, but these rates were significantly reduced when the conspicuous color signals of N. pilipes were altered by black paint. A comparison of the diurnal and nocturnal hunting performances of spiders showed that their conspicuous coloration had a higher luring effect under dim light conditions. These results demonstrate that the conspicuous body coloration of N. pilipes functions as a visual lure to attract both diurnal and nocturnal prey. It seems that nocturnal insects are the major target of this colorful sit-and-wait predator. We suggest that the selection pressure to effectively exploit the color vision of nocturnal prey could be one of the major forces driving the evolution of spider coloration.