The male weaver spider immediately jumps after mating, this is the reason

KOMPAS.com – Sexual cannibalism commonly found in animals, one of which is in laba-laba weaver. This condition usually occurs after the mating procession is over, where the female will usually eat the male.

But in the case of sexual cannibalism In this case, it turns out that males do not always surrender to be preyed upon.

Some animals will move silently to avoid detection or pretend to be dead. In fact, one of the animals that avoided such cannibalism was ball weaver spider male.

As quoted from New ScientistTuesday (26/4/2022) after finishing mating, the male spider will quickly throw himself to a safe place to avoid being eaten by his partner.

Behavior male weaver spider This is the first time that researchers have observed saving themselves after mating.

Read also: Avoid Cannibalism, Before Mating Male Spiders Bite Females

Shichang Zhang researcher from Hubei University in China and his team first noticed this behavior of sexual cabalism while studying orb-weaving spiders in the mountains in Wuhan, China, in October 2019.

The researchers decided to investigate matters further in the laboratory. They used a high-speed camera to capture the behavior of 155 pairs of ball-weaving spiders (Philoponella prominens).

In those observations, only three male spiders did not eject after mating, and all of them were immediately caught, killed, and eaten by their mates. Meanwhile, all males who throw themselves after mating can survive.

Researchers also tested the need for self-ejection behavior in order to avoid cannibalism.

You do this by placing a small brush behind the weaver spider to prevent the male from ejecting.

Read also: 3 Deadliest Spiders in the World

Sure enough, after being prevented from ejecting, the male did not survive and was eaten by the female.

Furthermore, the camera revealed that the male spider was ejecting itself at an astonishing speed of up to 88.2 cm per second, which Zhang said was impressive for a spider that is only about 3 mm long.

It’s like a person with a height of 183 cm throws himself 538 meters in 1 second.

William Brown of the State University of New York at Fredonia said this research contributes to our understanding of how sexually cannibalistic species mate successfully.

Read also: Much smaller in size, venomous spiders often prey on snakes

But Brown also wondered whether the escape strategy could be used to respond to other threats, such as defense against predators.

Or is it a unique adaptation to reduce the risk of sexual cannibalism alone.

Meanwhile, Zhang and colleagues hypothesize that this behavior evolved to signal fitness as a partner.

“If the mate is unable to eject or the throwing ability is not good, the female can remove the male’s sperm and accept the mate’s invitation from the other male,” Zhang said.

The findings of sexual cannibalism in these ball-weaving spiders have been published in the journal Current Biology.

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