Similar to humans and many other species, spiders have their own distinctive characters that shapes their lifestyles, a new study has suggested.
Depending on the type of spider, the personality differences could help to predict whether the individual frequently pounces and attacks or is more likely to calmly sit around and observe.
Lead author Lena Grinsted of Aarhus University's Department of Bioscience told Discovery News that the main personality measure used in the study was termed 'boldness' and was measured on a continuous scale, which means that individuals could be found anywhere on the scale from very shy to very bold.
Grinsted and her co-workers focussed on Stegodyphus sarasinorum female colony members that work together in handling common tasks, which includes duties such as prey capture, feeding, brood care and building and maintaining the silk nest and capture web.
The first females that ran out tended to be the biggest but size had no influence on them being attackers, as only the boldest spiders tended to attack.
Grinsted said that shy spiders, which did not help in capturing prey specialized in other group activities, like brood care.
She further added that spiders that had interactions with same individuals for long periods of time had stable personalities whereas those interacting with new individuals all the time exhibited more flexible, variable personalities.
The study has been published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
