Male spiders escape ‘lightningly fast’ after mating

Female spiders are inherently very cruel to their partners, because they often tend to eat males to fight hunger after sex. This leads the male spiders to always have some defense mechanism to avoid falling into the situation of being “eaten” by the female spider.

New research from Hubei University (China) has discovered one of such mechanisms, when male spiders of the Philoponella species tend to run away very quickly after a “salty” time with female spiders.

In fact, research shows that male Philoponella spiders have the ability to launch at an average speed of about 65 centimeters per second and can reach 200 centimeters per second if they want to accelerate. This is a very impressive speed according to the assessment of the Hubei University research team published in the journal Current Biology.

To achieve that speed, the males had to rely on flexors in their legs, which act as compression springs and are ready to pop out as soon as sex is over, said Shichang Zhang, a member of the team. research group member.

Two Philoponella spiders are mating – Photo of Hubei University (China)

Mr. Zhang added that the escape process of male spiders will also be the basis for female spiders to evaluate the reproductive quality of their partners. If the male spider has the ability to run fast and escape many times, the female spider will accept the “seed” that the male spider gives.

Prior to this study, several reports also showed that female spiders of different species also had mate-eating properties similar to Philoponella species. This has led to very interesting defense mechanisms in males.

For example, male spiders of the species Thanatus Fabricii often tie female spiders with silk before having sex, while male Latrodectus spiders also often shake their bellies to signal to female spiders that they want to mate and not for food.

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