Australasian social spiders: what is meant by 'social'?

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 10 years ago

Abstract - The number of social spider species in Australasia may be as few as three, or as many as there are species of spiders, given the present lack of concensus on the definition of a social animal. This is part of the reason why a unified theory of sociobiology has been elusive, and is especially regrettable for arachnologists because spiders are unusually promising subjects for testing theoretical ideas about social behaviour. A review of these problems, with special reference to Australasian social spiders, argues that cooperation among mutually tolerant individuals, in behaviour other than courtship, mating and parental care, is the sole defining criterion of sociality.