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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSpider sex is kinkier than you thought!
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2016/03/09/5167/#.VucH--IrIdU"Youve probably heard of species of spiders whose females will eat males during sex. But did you know that in some of these species, the males will try to protect themselves by binding the females legs with silk before copulation? Its true, and according to this study, it has led to the evolution of males with longer legs to help restrain females. In other words, an arms raceor to be more specific a legs race.
Benefits of size dimorphism and copulatory silk wrapping in the sexually cannibalistic nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira.
In sexually cannibalistic animals, male fitness is influenced not only by successful mate acquisition and egg fertilization, but also by avoiding being eaten. In the cannibalistic nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira, the legs of mature males are longer in relation to their body size than those of females, and males use these legs to aid in wrapping a females legs with silk prior to and during copulation. We hypothesized that elongated male legs and silk wrapping provide benefits to males, in part through a reduced likelihood of sexual cannibalism. To test this, we paired females of random size with males from one of two treatment groupsthose capable of silk wrapping versus those incapable of silk wrapping. We found that males with relatively longer legs and larger body size were more likely to mate and were less likely to be cannibalized prior to copulation. Regardless of relative size, males capable of silk wrapping were less likely to be cannibalized during or following copulation and had more opportunities for sperm transfer (i.e. pedipalpal insertions). Our results suggest that male size and copulatory silk wrapping are sexually selected traits benefiting male reproductive success.
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Be careful out there. Evolution is in play, apparently.
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Spider sex is kinkier than you thought! (Original Post)
HuckleB
Mar 2016
OP
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)1. My Spidey sense is tingling!
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)2. +1,000,000 ... 000
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)3. Spider bondage. Kinky spiders. LOL
nt
Initech
(100,108 posts)4. Spider sex, spider sex does whatever spider sex does.
Can it ejaculate from a web? No it can't it's spider sex.
Xolodno
(6,406 posts)5. Maybe thats why a hot model...
....known as MJ was so into Peter Parker.
surrealAmerican
(11,365 posts)6. IBTL
The rule is, "no sex threads", right?