To mate or fight? Male-male competition and alternative mating strategies in Argyrodes antipodiana (Theridiidae, Araneae)

Argyrodes antipodiana is a kleptoparasitic spider that builds its own web around the webs of other, larger host species. Males are more prone to have contests on webs of conspecific females than on webs of conspecific males. Males are also more likely to escalate interactions when on the females' webs than on males' webs, consistent with predictions from game theory models. Yet, in nearly half the tests, males on females' webs did not escalate. Instead of just being "sampling error", these failures to escalate may reflect the contest losers' abilities to gain copulations by "sneaking", an alternative mating tactic which enables males to obtain access to a female, not by fighting, but by exploiting the dominant male's dilemma of whether to mate or fight.