Can Spiders Mate With Other Spiders?
WouterThere are a variety of spider species, each with its own unique name. Some of these species are very social and are highly inbred. Others are very fast runners and have a lot of silk. They are also often found at night, hunting for other insects. Some of them may even lay hundreds of eggs at one time.
Some species of spiders are extremely tactile with their young. Some mothers feed their young with their own blood. They may even cannibalize their own offspring. This type of behavior is uncommon, but it can happen.
One example of spider cannibalism is found in the redback spiders of Australia. These spiders practice sexual cannibalism. They will fight over females. During this process, the male will insert his second palpus in the female’s genital opening. Then, the male will pull out the sperm and deposit it on the tiny sperm web that the female has created.
Another interesting example of cannibalism in spiders is the wolf spider. They may bite into the male during mating. The male is then eaten by the female.
Arachnologist Jonathan Coddington is curator of arachnids at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. He has studied the behaviors of different spiders and the effects of density on their mating strategies.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, have examined a group of nursery web spiders. The spiders use a dragline to follow a pheromone-coated line to a female. These females then spin their webs and release pheromones into the air.
