The Ant and the Blade of Grass

[bunny]

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When the first spider froze at the sight of a predator, it presumably survied because of this. Since this is NOT a random mutation, I don't get how it is first got passed down and evolves. Unlike the the physical characteristic of spots, I don't see how a behavioral characteristic such as freezing is passed down for the firs time. Freezing seems to be a "learned" behavior. I understand how a wildebeast teaches its offspring to freeze at the sight of a lion, and I can even see how this might eventually become hard wired into future generations of wildebeasts. But insects don't possess the intellect to learn from watched behavior of parents (at least I didn't think so).

So exactly how does behavior in insects evolve?

I'm STILL not asking the question the way I want, but hopefully this is close enough.

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I think the bolded part is your error - presumably the "freezing" is the manifestation of some hormonal (or equivalent if spiders dont have hormones) event in the spider's brain (or equivalent, again). Why should this be any less likely to occur than a random change to a beetle's coloration?

I dont see that you're justified to conclude it is a learned behaviour rather than an instinct.

EDIT: Similar to luckyme's motionless amoeba - very primitive animals could accidentally develop a whole host of instincts like that. The later generations who have a developed enough brain to learn would more be adding to their inherited instincts, rather than supplanting them. Most animals are born able to walk - we have to learn. If there can be an instinct for walking, why not for staying still when you sense movement?