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Psyche 
[Vol. 87 
Table 3. Adult males of Maliosgregalis maintained for 30 days in different types of 
webs with either Musca domestica or Drosophila melanogaster provided as prey. G- 
tests of independence, with Yates Correction, carried out separately for survival rates 
of those provided with each of the two types of prey: P < 0.001. 
Prey 
Type of Web 
Number of Males 
Survived Died 
Total 
G 
Built by the Male 
12 
8 
20 
Musca 
Built by a Female 
Female Absent 
11 
9 
20 
21.508 
Built by a Female 
Female Present 
39 
1 
40 
Built by the Male 
21 
14 
35 
Drosophila 
Built by a Female 
Female Absent 
33 
2 
35 
16.380 
Built by aFemale 
Female Present 
32 
3 
35 
Summary 
1. When kept without alternative prey, individuals in colonies of 
the communal, non-territorial spider Malios gregalis starved to death 
rather than resort to cannibalism. 
2. Males of M. gregalis died sooner than females and immatures 
when kept without prey. 
3. Compared with males of the communal, territorial species M. 
trivittatus and Dictyna calcurata, males of M. gregalis did not survive 
as long without prey when maintained in their own webs. 
4. With prey ( Musca and Drosophila) provided, males of M. 
gregalis survived longer when sharing webs with females than when 
alone. 
5. With small prey ( Drosophila ) provided, males survived longer 
alone in webs built by females than alone in their own webs. 
Acknowledgements 
The assistance of Peter N. Witt during all phases of this work is 
gratefully acknowledged. Yael Lubin provided helpful comments on 
