Can Boy Spiders Have Babies?

Male spiders are serious predators. They hunt for prey and protect their own offspring. The primary goal of male spiders is to impregnate females. However, it’s difficult to predict the outcome of a male spider’s courtship.

Female spiders are much larger than males. Females are homogametic, meaning that their offspring have the same chromosome. This may lead to a bias toward X-sperm, which produces more offspring.

When the male and female mate, a sperm cell is produced and is transferred to the female’s genital organs. Once there, sperm cells move into the spermathecae, which are connected to the oviducts. Eggs then hatch after two to three weeks. Unlike other animals, the majority of spider eggs do not survive to adulthood.

While most spider species are solitary, there are some species that are social. A social spider, such as the Stegodyphus domicola, lives in groups. Researchers have observed that this spider guards its offspring.

In some sexually dimorphic species, sexual cannibalism occurs before or after copulation. During sex, the female spiders of these species may choose to eat the male.

One species, the Harpactea Sadistica, has been studied for traumatic insertion. During sex, the spider injects sperm directly into the female’s body. It’s the first occurrence of traumatic insertion.

Another solitary species, the Manogea porracea, defends its egg sacs from predators. Although it’s a small, brownish-orange spider, it lives on leaf litter and on low branches.

Female spiders lay their eggs in the dark. They use silk threads to construct their webs. Some egg sacs contain hundreds of eggs.