John Whitfield of Nature reports this sad, sad tale of male spider destiny. “Immediately after [mating], [they] become motionless,” says Foellmer. “Males show the typical dead posture, with legs folded under the body. Their hearts stop within 15 minutes.”
The dead male’s inflated palp remains wedged inside the female.. This prevents her from mating again and gives his sperm crucial minutes to fertilize her eggs. “The female cannot pull the male out for at least 15-25 minutes,” says Foellmer. “Other males try hard to pull the dead male out, but often fail.”
Like many spiders, the female eventually eats her deceased ex, but she is a bystander to his demise. Males probably put their whole selves into mating because finding a female is so onerous. Such extreme investment is common in spiders – others are so exhausted by sex that they stagger away and die; still more encourage the female to eat them, as it allows them to mate for longer.
But Argiope is, so far, the only animal found to be programmed to die during mating, says Foellmer. The report he co-authored is “Spontaneous male death during copulation in an orb-weaving spider,” published by Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
If you’ve read this far, be sure to check out these other great Nature stories on spider follies:
Spider and fly swap roles
Silky doodles may confuse spiders’ enemies
Spider scents attract prey
Eight-legged antics
Smaller spiders are better lovers
And to continue your research on wacky sex antics of animals, may I recommend…