Portsmouth University study shows that social spiders have evolved to hunt in different ways

Spiders are usually solitary creatures, but the new research has shown that some spiders have evolved to be social, and sometimes even live in groups.

The research, conducted by an international team of researchers and led by the University of Portsmouth, found that the evolution of social spiders may be due to the environmental factors that have shaped their hunting strategies.

They discovered that each species of spider attacked prey differently compared to what would be expected from spiders living in groups.

For example, only the number of spiders needed to take down the prey would go after it, meaning that for a smaller prey, fewer spiders would attack.

They explored a number of different spider species including the African social velvet spider, the Indian co-operative spider and the African Social Spider, all of which had a different reaction to attacking their prey.

The African social velvet spider and African Social Spider, who are based in the same area, take on similar approaches by opting for group hunting compared to the Indian spider.

Study lead author Dr Lena Grinsted, senior lecturer in zoology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, said: ‘When spiders become social, they all end up becoming extremely inbred, they start caring for each other’s babies, and they hunt and feed together.

‘What’s new in this study is that, despite these general similarities, we found there is not just one way of being a social spider. Environmental conditions and competition will have shaped different hunting strategies in different species.’