Run the dance and choose...

2002/04/09 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia

Populations of the dancer spider that inhabits the Arizona desert (Habronattus pugillis) have announced the existence of a sexual selection. When 10,000 years ago the Arizona area began to dry up and became desert, spider populations were isolated in the desert valleys. Today, scientists have seen that the dancer spiders of each valley look different.

Body ornaments and head shape have changed in each valley, even courtship steps are different. Females are the same in all valleys. If the male and the female of several valleys join together, the male takes much longer to bark it. In addition, this couple has fewer descendants. Therefore, researchers believe that females, when choosing males, have more characteristics in each valley.

According to the researchers, we are facing a case of sexual selection. That is, it seems that from a species of dancing spider two new species are occurring. If this were so, researchers believe that sexual selection can have more weight than expected in the creation of new species.