ABSTRACT. Aggregation, extended mother-offspring-sibling interactions, and complex social behaviors are extremely rare among arachnids. We report and quantify for the first time in Amblypygi prolonged mother-offspring-sibling associations, active aggregation, and frequent "amicable" (tolerant, nonaggressive) tactile interactions in two species: Phrynus marginemaculatus C.L. Koch 1840 (Phrynidae) and Damon diadema (Simon, 1876) (Phrynichidae). Sociality is characterized by frequent ...
<0.05). However, this was a result of a single "hot spot" in the cage where one aggregation consistently occurred. In other areas of the cage, distributions changed on a daily basis and on five of the six days observed, the distribution differed significantly from the expected random distribution. In contrast, the mean distribution for the immature D. diadema taken over the entire experimental period did not differ significantly from the expected random distribution (Fig. 15, [chi square] = 7.67, df = 5, P>