The wasp spider Argiope bruennichi (Arachnida, Araneidae):: Ballooning is not an obligate life history phase

Aerial dispersal ("ballooning") of Argiope bruennichi spiderlings has been claimed to be an obligate life history trait and a prerequisite for spinning prey-capture webs. If this were true, a ballooning phase Would be essential for any laboratory rearing of A. bruennichi making rearing protocols particularly elaborate. We tested the significance of ballooning for second-instar spiderlings in the laboratory and showed that the ballooning behavior is not essential for building prey-capture orb webs. Our results also give no evidence for the hypothesis that recent natural selection has changed ballooning behavior in newly founded field Populations.