Courtship with a Running Tackle

jsloan

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Messages
972
Wow, when this male decided it was time to mate he really went berserk! During the past week I found two separate Clubiona sp. in my basement, one male and one female. The other night I put them together in a large pickle jar. They both started walking around the jar, basically doing circles around it. Occasionally they passed within about a mm of each other, but neither seemed aware of the other. Then, they touched briefly and the female took off for the top of the jar. The male pursued and, lightning quick, tackled her. She lost her grip and the two of them went tumbling down to the bottom in a heap, winding up on their backs with the male holding on. At first I wasn't sure the male hadn't attacked her, because he jumped on her like she was a fly. A couple of minutes later the female righted herself with the male still clinging to her back. He gradually maneuvered and repositioned himself prior to mating. The female stayed pretty quiet through this. Anyway, it was interesting to watch. So much for careful courtship by the male!

I need to examine the palps of the male, but I think these spiders are probably Clubiona canadensis, which I've found before around here.

I took a few pictures (quality is not good, as I had to shoot from the mouth of the jar and couldn't get the camera close enough for better shots - that's what I get for using such a big jar!):

Right after the fall (male on the bottom):
mating.jpg

The female manages to stand upright:
mating4.jpg

Male is repositioning himself:
mating6.jpg

Male crawls under her:
mating7.jpg

Later, the more "normal" mating position:
mating12.jpg

Mating lasted about 30 minutes.
 
Last edited:

VickyChaiTea

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
97
Haha! He was just very enthusiastic. Also, did you release them after or are you going to keep the offspring?
 

jsloan

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Jun 22, 2004
Messages
972
Also, did you release them after or are you going to keep the offspring?
No, in order to identify the species I have to put them in alcohol and look at the palp or epigyne under a microscope, so they're dead now (I anesthetized them for some habitus pictures first, so each spider was "out of it" when I put it in the alcohol). The female was getting old, anyway. I'd given her water but she refused a fly I put in with her, so I decided to see if they'd mate before I preserved them both.
 

jsloan

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Messages
972
Here are some habitus pics I took later:

Female:


Male:


 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
Miturgidae and Clubionidae males look so *evil* to me =P


the tiny mygs Megahexura fulva mate real rough styles, too. so much so it's mentioned in lit :D
 
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