Study
Spider flexibly chooses aggressive mimicry signals for different prey by trial and error
Jackson, Robert R.; Wilcox, R. Stimson
Behaviour, 1993
Portia jumping spiders, which hunt other spiders, were presented with prey species whose webs they had not encountered. The vibratory signals they produced on the web were recorded as they searched for one that would draw the resident spider out.
- Studied in
- Portia fimbriata
- Sample size
- individually tested jumping spiders across trial series
Portia generated varied vibratory signals and, on encountering one that produced a response, repeated it. With unfamiliar prey it worked through a repertoire by trial and error until something succeeded.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Portia uses flexible, feedback-guided aggressive mimicry rather than a fixed set of species-specific signals.
How NatureHQ reads it
A spider with roughly a hundred thousand neurons solving a problem by trying options and keeping what works is genuinely difficult to square with the idea that flexible behaviour requires a large brain. The honest framing is that this is trial-and-error learning within a hunting repertoire, which is a real cognitive achievement and is not the same as insight.
- Laboratory encounters are simplified relative to a wild web.
- Trial-and-error and insight are hard to separate definitively from outcome data.
- One genus with an unusually specialised predatory lifestyle.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Academic book publishersPublished as an academic monograph.
doi.org/10.1163/156853993x00407
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-09.