Leaping away to avoid being eaten after mating, male spiders break up with their mates at 3 km/h
If not quickly left, this web spider will become a meal for the female to regain strength after mating.
With the legal name Philoponella prominens, the male of the web spider has powerful limbs that help his body bounce at speeds of more than 80 cm/s, equivalent to 3 km/h. While many animals use their legs to escape predators, P. prominens uses their superior jumping ability to escape the four deadly “arms” of their mates.
According to researcher Zhang Shichang, the spider’s speed through the air is so fast that the camera often cannot capture all the details. It was the spider expert Shichang who discovered the commonality between the matings of P. prominens, that the males always shoot away after fertilization.
Mr. Shichang and his colleagues set up a high-speed camera to record the scene, and published their report in a magazine. Current Biology first day of the week.
The male puts his forelegs on top of the female, and as soon as copulation is complete, the tiny creature uses hydraulic pressure from the leg joints to dislodge from the mate’s body. If they are slow, the male will become a source of nutrition for the female to nourish her descendants.
In 155 mating trials, there were 152 cases of males quickly escaping the clutches of their partners. But in the end, the 30 male spiders participating in the experiment still had to sacrifice themselves for science and for future cubs.
Male spiders quickly jump off the female after completing the mating “ritual”.
To ensure that this jumping behavior was used to escape and not for any other effect, the team tried to block the jumping path of male spiders. The results were clear: all 30 male spiders were unable to escape their mate’s embrace, becoming an improved meal.
According to researcher Zhang Shichang, male spiders use the 36th technique of the Venerable War of War to avoid being eaten. He describes the male spider’s life-saving behavior as a “great display of motivation,” and we might call it a quick one-night stand.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here
