Meeting Abstract
The range of signaling diversity found within the jumping spider genus, Habronattus, offers an excellent model system to study general principals in signal evolution, sexual selection, and speciation. Male Habronattus use multimodal courtship displays, composed of complex coordinated visual and acoustic elements. To explore the diversity in Habronattus courtship complexity, we focused on quantifying the acoustic elements in male displays in the clypeatus species group of Habronattus (H. californicus, H. canyon city, H. cf. dossenus, H. clypeatus, H. dossenus, H. formosos, and H. forticulus). We found differences among the overall composition of song elements, as well as overall courtship complexity. We then used a mathematical based nomenclature to transcribe display composition across species.
