Male spiders keep the network by tying their partners when mating

Tying a partner is one of the ways to show enthusiasm during mating, but for male spiders, this action is vital.

According to Live Science, by releasing the silk tightly around the female spider's legs during mating, the Nursery-web male spiders (of the Pisauridae family) control their mates and minimize their potential to become victims. black side ".

A recent study found that although females have a slightly larger body than males, the ratio of males to legs is larger than females.

In the world of insects and spiders, sex is like a death game for males, when their partners suddenly consider them to be fast-food convenient.

This "absolutely benefits the spider , " said Alissa Anderson, a member of the research team.

The fact that the females eat mates helps it increase the ability to produce more eggs and store more nutrients for the spiders later.From the need for the nutrient tolerance of the female spider and the male spider's survival needs, a mating strategy still survives , Ms. Anderson said.

The male spider binds the spider's legs while mating.(Photo: Live Science).

Accordingly, males can fake death to avoid being eaten. In some other spider species, males will put their children in an unconscious state, or a male will try to mate with females who are busy eating their previous mates.

Or as Nursery-web spiders, males will tie their legs to keep themselves safe during mating.

Nursery-web spiders do not catch prey by snare silk, they still release silk for many other purposes. The female weaves a silk net to keep the newly hatched and raising them. This spider also releases silk to move safely.

And during mating, the male spider wraps the silk rings around the spider's legs. Some other spider species even hang females on silk, but for Nursery-web spiders, they only use their silk to curb their children's thirst, Ms. Anderson said.

To study this phenomenon, the researchers combined male and female spider pairs, some males could still release silk as usual, some of them were inhibited by the ability to release silk. Males that are unable to bind females can still mate normally, however, the unprotected sex makes them very likely to be eaten immediately afterwards, the researchers said.

They also showed that healthy males have longer legs, larger bodies are more likely to succeed in tying their partners, and are synonymous with escaping after mating.

Limiting being eaten by meat also allows males to have multiple fertilization, which for spiders also means increasing the ability to maintain the race.

The study is published February 23 in the journal Biology Letters.