Vibratory Communication Through Living Plants by a Tropical Wandering Spider

Abstract

Female Cupiennius salei pheromone on banana and Agave plants elicits patterned oscillations by the male. Resulting pulse trains of vibrations through the leaf average 76 hertz. The brief vibratory response by the otherwise immobile female hidden up to at least 1 meter away on another leaf guides the male across the plant to her location. Reciprocal signaling continues in the presence of random noise that masks the male's airborne sounds.