Creative problem solving in a jumping spider
6 affiliations
- 1State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, Hubei 430062, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan 666303, China
- 3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- 4Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
- 5Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan 666303, China
- 6Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan 666303, China
Abstract
Behavioural innovation, a key indicator of advanced cognition, has been well documented across animal taxa and manifests as creative problem-solving. Typical innovators such as apes and corvids can spontaneously solve complex, multi-step tasks individually without prior training. Innovative behaviours in arthropods—honeybees, bumblebees, and ants—are probably underestimated because their innovative behaviours are often considered products of associative learning, group-level processes, or one-step problem-solving. Here, we challenge this view by demonstrating spontaneous, individual-level innovation in nest construction by the social-living jumping spider Toxeus maxillosus, without prior training or external demonstration. Under four challenging laboratory conditions, T. maxillosus females exhibited the core components of typical innovative behaviours: environmental exploration, behavioural flexibility, insight, and action planning. Furthermore, in a vertical string-pulling task (a benchmark test of animal innovation), half of the spiders pulled an out-of-reach sponge upward and incorporated it into the inner wall of the device, thereby creating a suitable microstructure for nest construction. These behaviours demonstrate multi-step, goal-directed object manipulation. Our findings suggest that arthropods are capable of individual-level, spontaneous innovation involving planning and multi-step sequences, akin to those observed in typical innovators. We propose that a social lifestyle centred on prolonged maternal care—a trait shared by T. maxillosus and many vertebrate innovators—rather than large brain size or long lifespan, may be a critical evolutionary driver of such cognitive complexity. This study challenges the vertebrate-centric view of typical innovation and provides a new framework for understanding the evolution of cognition across phylogenetic scales.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026creative,
title = {{Creative problem solving in a jumping spider}},
author = {Yi-Rong Wang and Chu Jiang and Yu Zeng and Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz and Jing-Xin Liu and Xiaoguo Jiao and Zhanqi Chen},
journal = {Zoological Research},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.527},
url = {https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.527},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Creative problem solving in a jumping spider
AU - Yi-Rong Wang
AU - Chu Jiang
AU - Yu Zeng
AU - Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
AU - Jing-Xin Liu
AU - Xiaoguo Jiao
AU - Zhanqi Chen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
JO - Zoological Research
DO - 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.527
UR - https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.527
AB - Behavioural innovation, a key indicator of advanced cognition, has been well documented across animal taxa and manifests as creative problem-solving. Typical innovators such as apes and corvids can spontaneously solve complex, multi-step tasks individually without prior training. Innovative behaviours in arthropods—honeybees, bumblebees, and ants—are probably underestimated because their innovative behaviours are often considered products of associative learning, group-level processes, or one-step problem-solving. Here, we challenge this view by demonstrating spontaneous, individual-level innovation in nest construction by the social-living jumping spider Toxeus maxillosus, without prior training or external demonstration. Under four challenging laboratory conditions, T. maxillosus females exhibited the core components of typical innovative behaviours: environmental exploration, behavioural flexibility, insight, and action planning. Furthermore, in a vertical string-pulling task (a benchmark test of animal innovation), half of the spiders pulled an out-of-reach sponge upward and incorporated it into the inner wall of the device, thereby creating a suitable microstructure for nest construction. These behaviours demonstrate multi-step, goal-directed object manipulation. Our findings suggest that arthropods are capable of individual-level, spontaneous innovation involving planning and multi-step sequences, akin to those observed in typical innovators. We propose that a social lifestyle centred on prolonged maternal care—a trait shared by T. maxillosus and many vertebrate innovators—rather than large brain size or long lifespan, may be a critical evolutionary driver of such cognitive complexity. This study challenges the vertebrate-centric view of typical innovation and provides a new framework for understanding the evolution of cognition across phylogenetic scales.
SN - 2095-8137
ER -