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Sexual Cannibalism for Spiders in a Hurry
Pity the male golden orbweaver (Trichonephila fenestrate) spider. He mates for life, but his forever spouse is free to take other sexual partners.
Trying not to let his mate stray, the male is always ready to fight wannabe suitors. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to turn them away as often as he would like. That’s because the female sometimes compels her devoted companion to let her eat his front legs while they are having sex. Literally unarmed, once the sex is over he can never fight the competition again. And, who knows? Maybe he no longer looks that good to her.
Why the fork does the male let this happen to him?
In evolutionary terms, the male may have “sperm competition” on his mind. He wants his genes, not some other dude’s, to survive into the next generation. So if it seems to him that he needs to satisfy his mate’s nutritional and sexual appetites exclusively and all at once, he goes for it.
After all, she stands to be the mother of several hundred of his children.
I think of this as “feed-fork spider dating.” Read all about it in new research by zoologists at the University of Hamburg.
Like stories about spiders? Female Larinia jeskovi spiders aren’t satisfied eating just their mates’ legs. Read why it’s only fair play for them to eat the whole body.
