Data from: Control of signaling alignment during the dynamic courtship display of a jumping spider

During communication, alignment between signals and sensors can be critical. Signals are often best perceived from specific angles, and sensory systems can also exhibit strong directional biases. However, we know little about how animals establish and maintain such signaling alignment during communication. To investigate this, we characterized the spatial dynamics of visual courtship signaling in the jumping spider Habronattus pyrrithrix. The male performs forward-facing displays involving complex color and movement patterns, with distinct long- and short-range phases. The female views displays with 2 distinct eye types and can only perceive colors and fine patterns of male displays when they are presented in her frontal field of view. Whether and how courtship interactions produce such alignment between male display and female field of view is unknown. We recorded relative positions and orientations of both actors throughout courtship and established the role of each sex in maintaining signaling alignment. Males always oriented their displays toward the female. However, when females were free to move, male displays were consistently aligned with female principal eyes only during short-range courtship. When female position was fixed, signaling alignment consistently occurred during both phases, suggesting that female movement reduces communication efficacy. When female models were experimentally rotated to face away during courtship, males rarely repositioned themselves to re-align their display. However, males were more likely to present certain display elements after females turned to face them. Thus, although signaling alignment is a function of both sexes, males appear to rely on female behavior for effective communication.在动物通讯过程中，信号与感知传感器的对准至关重要。信号往往仅在特定角度下才能被最优感知，而感官系统本身也会表现出显著的方向偏向性。然而，目前我们对动物在通讯过程中如何建立并维持这类信号对准机制仍知之甚少。为探究这一问题，我们对艳红跳蛛（Habronattus pyrrithrix）的视觉求偶信号的空间动态特征进行了表征。雄性个体展现出面向前方的展示行为，其包含复杂的色彩与运动模式，且具有明确的长距离与短距离两个求偶阶段。雌性个体通过两类截然不同的视觉器官感知雄性的展示行为，仅当展示行为处于其前方视野范围内时，才能捕捉到雄性展示的色彩与精细图案。目前尚不明确求偶互动是否以及如何促成雄性展示与雌性视野的对准。我们在整个求偶过程中记录了雌雄双方的相对位置与朝向，并明确了两性在维持信号对准过程中各自发挥的作用。雄性个体始终将展示行为朝向雌性。然而，当雌性可自由移动时，雄性的展示行为仅在短距离求偶阶段，才能始终与雌性主眼（principal eyes）的视野对准。当雌性的位置被固定时，两个求偶阶段均能始终维持信号对准，这表明雌性的移动会降低通讯效率。在实验中，当求偶过程中雌性模型被转向背对雄性时，雄性极少会重新调整自身位置以重新对准展示行为。不过，当雌性转向面对雄性时，雄性更有可能展示特定的求偶行为元素。因此，尽管信号对准依赖于两性的共同作用，但雄性似乎需要依靠雌性的行为才能实现高效的通讯。