Inbreeding produces trade-offs between maternal fecundity and offspring survival in a monandrous spider

Offspring born to related parents often have lower fitness than those born to unrelated parents, a phenomenon termed inbreeding depression. While many species have been shown to rely on pre- and/or postcopulatory mate choice to avoid inbreeding, such research has focused largely on polyandrous rather than monandrous species. The absence of postcopulatory mate choice in monandrous species suggests that precopulatory mate choice should play a more important role in inbreeding avoidance. We used a monandrous wolf spider, Pardosa astrigera, as a model system to investigate whether (1) male spiders respond differently to sibling and nonsibling females; (2) female spiders respond differently to sibling versus nonsibling males; and (3) inbreeding affects females and their offspring. Male courtship behaviour was similar for sibling and nonsibling females; although females were less likely to mate with siblings, over half did mate successfully with them. Sibling-mated females produced fewer offspring from the first egg sac and fewer total offspring, but inbred offspring survived longer in a range of environments than their outbred counterparts. This suggests that the fitness costs of reduced fecundity in sibling-mated females may be offset by higher offspring survivorship. Our results highlight the importance of considering both parent and offspring fitness when addressing the costs of inbreeding, and are the first to document the impact of inbreeding on sexual behaviour and reproductive fitness in a monandrous spider

Data from: Aggressive jumping spiders make quicker decisions for preferred prey but not at the cost of accuracy

There has been an increasing interest in consistent interindividual differences in behavior (i.e., personality) in recent years. However, consistent interindividual differences in cognitive styles remain largely unexplored. Individual differences in cognitive styles are hypothesized to be functionally related to differences in personality types. It is assumed that proactive individuals make faster decisions at the expense of accuracy (i.e., the speed–accuracy trade-offs hypothesis). Here, we investigated the relationship between personality and speed–accuracy trade-off using Portia labiata, a specialized spider-eating jumping spider that exhibits excellent cognitive ability. We first established consistent individual differences in aggressiveness and decision-making in P. labiata. We then tested whether individual differences in aggressiveness could predict how fast and accurately P. labiata makes a prey-choice decision (a large vs. a small orb-web spider). We demonstrated that P. labiata exhibited individual differences not only in aggressiveness, but also in the speed of prey-choice decisions but not in the choices. Importantly, we found that aggressiveness was not related to the choice of the prey, but it predicted the speed of prey-choice decision: aggressive individuals were faster to make choices than docile ones but both chose large spiders as preferred prey. This suggests a lack of an association between a speed–accuracy trade-off and variation in personality types of P. labiata

Three new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela (Mesothelae, Liphistiidae, Heptathelinae) from Hunan Province, China

Three new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela Ono, 2000 are identified and described from Hunan Province, China, based on morphological characters of males and females: S. anhua Zhang & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), S. longhui Zhang & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), and S. zhongpo Zhang & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀). All the new Songthela species belong to the multidentata-group according to male palp and female genital morphology

Four new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela (Mesothelae, Liphistiidae) from Chongqing Municipality, China

10.11646/zootaxa.5091.4.2Zootaxa50914546-55

Three new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela (Araneae, Mesothelae) from Guizhou Province, China

10.3897/zookeys.1037.62916ZOOKEYS1037103757-7

BEHECO-2016-0233_Data

The data collected in the laboratory to test the relationship between a predator's aggressiveness level and prey-choice decision-making. The data format is for R. The R code is provided in the supplementary material

Trapdoor spiders of the genus Cyclocosmia Ausserer, 1871 from China and Vietnam (Araneae, Ctenizidae)

10.3897/zookeys.643.10797ZOOKEYS201764375-8

Four new species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 from Mainland China and Laos (Araneae, Ctenizidae)

10.3897/zookeys.643.10543ZOOKEYS201764363-7

Radioactive Nanomaterials for Multimodality Imaging

Nuclear imaging techniques, primarily including positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography, can provide quantitative information for a biological event in vivo with ultrahigh sensitivity; however, the comparatively low spatial resolution is their major limitation in clinical application. With the convergence of nuclear imaging with other imaging modalities like computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and optical imaging, the hybrid imaging platforms can overcome the limitations of each individual imaging technique. Possessing versatile chemical linking ability and good cargo-loading capacity, radioactive nanomaterials can serve as ideal imaging contrast agents. Here, we provide a brief overview about the current state-of-the-art applications of radioactive nanomaterials in multimodality imaging. We present strategies for incorporation of radioisotope(s) into nanomaterials with the applications of radioactive nanomaterials in multimodal imaging. Advantages and limitations of radioactive nanomaterials for multimodal imaging applications are discussed. Finally, a future perspective of possible radioactive nanomaterial utilization is presented for improving diagnosis and patient management in a variety of diseases