DailyDirt: Sneaky Little Spiders
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Spiders exhibit a wide variety of fascinating behaviors that are intriguingly complex. They don't just build nice webs and trap unsuspecting insects. Spiders have bizarre mating rituals that seem to suggest a surprising amount of intelligence for their size. Here are just a few examples.- Some crafty male spiders court attractive females by giving them gifts wrapped in silk -- but sometimes the gifts turn out to be inedible seeds or empty insect exoskeletons. Female spiders prefer edible gifts (chocolates, not flowers, guys), but in the end, they lay the same number of fertilized eggs regardless of whether or not the gift is appreciated. [url]
- What can a male spider do when the females of its species are known to eat their mates? In at least two spider species, the males snap off their genitals inside their mates. Evolutionary pressures can be painful... ouch. [url]
- Male wolf spiders have been observed to "eavesdrop" on their competition in order to outdo the mating dances of their rivals. Researchers came to this conclusion by letting spiders watch video screens of other male spiders dancing... and observing them pick up some cool new moves. [url]
- To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
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Filed Under: animals, behavior, gifts, intelligence, spiders
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Just don't go snapping off your genitals in the opposite sex.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpactea_sadistica#Traumatic_insemination
H. sadistica is the first spider species – and the first member of the entire subphylum Chelicerata – found to use traumatic insemination.[2] The males have specialized genital structures at the pedipalps that are adapted to grip the female and inject the sperm, using a structure resembling a hypodermic needle. After positioning himself, the male pierces the female on both sides and injects the sperm directly into the ovaries, resulting in about eight holes in two rows. Consistent with the modified mating behavior, the spermathecae of the female, which normally store received sperm, are weakly developed in this species.
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Gifts Wrapped In Silk?
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