Elusive Form of Evolution Seen in Social Spiders

As a rule, spiders are antisocial. They hunt alone, zealously defend their webs from other spiders, and sometimes even eat their mates. “Cannibalism and territoriality comes naturally to Arachnida, even during sex,” said Jonathan Pruitt, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Pittsburgh. But a handful of the more than 40,000 known arachnid species on the planet have learned to rein in that aggression. Like ants or bees, they cooperate for the good of the group.

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from WIRED » Science http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661470/s/3f51ff74/sc/10/l/0L0Swired0N0C20A140C10A0Csocial0Espider0Egroup0Eevolution0C/story01.htm

via Science News