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Science 26 January 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5811, p. 481
DOI: 10.1126/science.1134254
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Brevia

Sex-Specific UV and Fluorescence Signals in Jumping Spiders

Matthew L. M. Lim,1 Michael F. Land,2 Daiqin Li1,3*

No animals are known to possess both ultraviolet (UV) reflectance and fluorescence that are sex-specific. We provide evidence for this separation in the jumping spider Cosmophasis umbratica, which has UV reflectance and UV-induced green fluorescence restricted to males and females, respectively. During courtship, many of the studied pairs failed to show typical display posturing when UV light was blocked. Occluding the UV component of sunlight to only one of each pair also caused atypical behavior: Females showed no interest in non-UV-reflective courting males, and males either ignored or were lackluster in courting nonfluorescing females. These results demonstrate the importance of both sex-specific hues as sexual signals for effective intraspecific communication.

1 Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, 117543 Singapore.
2 Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK.
3 College of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, Hubei, China.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dbslidq{at}nus.edu.sg

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)