Visual cues used by ant-like jumping spiders to distinguish conspecifics from their models

Despite the conceptual appeal of how morphological mimics visually distinguish between conspecifics and their models, scant attention has been given to this topic. Accurate discrimination between ants and conspecific spiders is likely to be under strong selection because approaching an ant may result in the spider's death, while approaching a different sex conspecific may result in copulation. I addressed this question by examining responses of the ant-like jumping spider Myrmarachne bakeri Banks 1930 (Salticidae) toward motionless, odorless lures made from dead conspecifics, ants, or lures using components of non-ant-like salticids, ant-like salticids and ants. I found that chelicerae, legs I and body, but not movement, are important cues used by M. bakeri to distinguish conspecifics from ants, but the relative importance of these cues differs depending on a spider's sex.