MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: Why does the black widow eat her mate?

Area: General Biology
Posted By: Kurt Pickett, Grad student Entomology, Ohio State University / Museum of Biological Diversity
Date: Thu Nov 21 23:13:39 1996
Message ID: 845835098.Gb


Well Avi,

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but she doesn't.

The commonly held belief that the black widow spider, Latrodectus mactans, eats her mate is largely myth. I'm not certain how this myth started, but the behavioral data on the subject simply don't support it--in fact, the data contradict this idea.

Sometimes after copulation, the females may act aggressively toward other males, but in general, the initial male leaves the scene unharmed. In fact, in some Latrodectus species, the male actually lives in the female's web for many weeks and may even share her food with her.

In other spiders, however, the male does die during the mating process. In Araneus pallidus, the male's mating position places him directly under the female's chelicerae, or piercing-sucking mouthparts. In the mating process, the male unintentionally impales himself on the female's chelicerae, and she does then eat him. But this does not occur in Latrodectus.


More information on this subject can be found in the following sources:

Foelix, Rainer F. The Biology of Spiders. Oxford University Press. New York, 1996.

Ross, K., R.L. Smith: Aspects of the courtship behavior of the black widow spider Latrodectus hesperus (Araneae: Theridiidae), with evidence for the existance of a contact pheromone. J. Arachnol. 7 (1979) 69.

Kaston, B.J.: Comparative biology of American Black Widow spiders. Transact. San Diego Soc. Nat. HIst. 16 (1970) 33.


Hope this helps.

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