The collected juveniles were randomly assigned into two groups (Nstarving = 161, Ncontrol = 159), the control group was supplied with abundant food across the entire experiment process, and the experiment group was provided with only half amount of required food resource for the entire development process.In order to investigate the effects of food restriction on the development duration, adult body length and weight of spiders and the differences between female and male spiders, we measured the body length of each spider every five days since the experiment started until they reached adulthood, then their body weight, sex and the development duration were recorded.In order to explore the behavioral responses, concerning daily time allocation and hunting, of spiders between different food conditions, sexes and growth stages, we randomly selected some spiders from “Experiment 1” and carried out the following trails. Detailed number of spiders from each sex, each growth stage and each food condition are summarized in supplementary materials.

Spiders were kept in independent plastic boxes (5.4 × 5.4 × 4.2 cm), with a temperature of 25 ± 2℃ with a 12:12 hour light: dark cycle (light: 8:00 – 20:00) and fed with fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster)

Experiment 1: Developmental response

We measured the body length of each spider every five days since the experiment started until they reached adulthood, then their body weight, sex and the development duration were recorded. During the experiment, mortality of spiders was recorded every day.

Experiment 2: Behavioral responses

We randomly selected some spiders from “Experiment 1” and carried out the following trails.

1)  The time allocation

The status of staying inside the nests were thought to be in rest, while staying outside the nests were thought to be seeking for food or mates. Every spider was checked four times (twice between 9-11 am, and twice between 3-5 pm) on the third day after feeding.

2) Concerning hunting behavior

Randomly chosen juvenile spiders reared for two weeks or longer, and adult spiders were tested. During the test, each spider was put into a plastic tube (diameter × height: 15 × 80 mm) to get accustomed to the arena for 5 min. Then fruit flies were released into the tube and the mouth of the tube was plugged with porous cotton (Juvenile spiders The hunting behavior was recorded for two hours with video camera SONY FDR-AX60. We measured the time spent to notice the prey, the latency from noticing to the start of hunting, the time of chasing before subduing the prey and the result (successful or not). All tests were conducted on the feeding day but before feeding to make sure the spiders were hungry and ready to hunt, and the control group was supplemented with sufficient prey after the tests were completed to keep the food amount constant within each age stage.were provided with one fruit fly, while adult spiders were provided with two).