Deadly Spider Demands Long Courtship, or Else

discovery ^ | Oct. 21, 2009 | Jennifer Viegas

[JoeProBono]

Females of the Australian redback spider, one of the world's most poisonous spiders and a close relative to the black widow, demand 100 minutes of courting or else they usually cannibalize their male suitors, research finds.

Proving that bigger isn't always better in the mating game, the tiniest of males sometimes approach female redbacks after offering the critical 100 minutes of wooing and successfully mate without being eaten, according to the paper in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The study shows that puny males of this species can win at love without exerting much effort and begins to explain the extreme size differences between males and females among some spider species.

"Based upon our data of the timing of premature lethal cannibalism, it appears as though females are not tuned to select male size, but rather the duration of courtship," co-author Jeffrey Stoltz told Discovery News.

[JoeProBono]

Deadly Game Male Australian redback spiders who want to mate must provide exactly 100 minutes of courting or they are eaten by the giant female targets of their attention.

[Pistolshot]

I had an ex that required $100 of wooing before any mating occurred.

She's my ex because she was charging others a lot less.

[randomhero97]

Wow, talk about “high maintenance.”

[randomhero97]

[parsifal]

Well, at least they don’t have to listen to them.

parsy, who enjoys quietness

[JoeProBono]

[sodpoodle]

***this species can win at love without exerting much effort***

Yeah Baby!

[Hacklehead]

Maybe the smaller males are eaten less often because they are not enough of a meal to be worth the trouble.

[silverleaf]

LOL!!!

[JoeProBono]

[Tijeras_Slim]

Sixty-minute man
They call me Lovin' Dan
I rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a sixty-minute "CHOMP!"

[sodpoodle]

**....begins to explain the extreme size differences between males and females among some spider species.**

Sometimes little things do mean a lot;)

[Jewbacca]

[JoeProBono]

[ArrogantBustard]

Cute little girl there ... I hope that ugly wench in the spider-suit doesn’t hurt her.

[Pistolshot]

[KarlInOhio]

Females of the Australian redback spider, one of the world's most poisonous spiders and a close relative to the black widow, demand 100 minutes of courting or else they usually cannibalize their male suitors, research finds.

If your courtship ritual lasts 4 hours or more, please consult an arachnologist.

[NonValueAdded]

hey dude, you better forget the coldplay approach

[jagusafr]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Never mind, I just really think I don’t wanna know...

Colonel, USAFR