During courtship, individuals transfer information about identity, mating status and quality.
However, male web-building spiders face a significant problem: how to begin courting
female spiders without being mistaken for prey? Male Argiope spiders generate distinctive
courtship vibrations (shudders) when entering a female's web. We tested whether courtship
shudders delay female predatory behaviour, even when live prey is present in the web. We
presented a live cricket to females during playbacks of shudder vibrations, or white noise …