Females attack and consume males after mating?

[Brendan]

Well, according to this article,

http://venomlist.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16660

In the "Breeding" section, it says that after the deux or dance between a male and a female is completed, the female may attack, kill and consume the male.

If this is true, why do the females do this?

 

[Aztek]

Nourishment so the young have a chance to live.
Just like in some mantis. And other "bugs"

 

[Brendan]

Oooo that's kind of harsh. So does the male let the female kill him? Or does he fight back and stuff?

What if you take the male out quickly after they finish sex?

 

[Brian S]

I have bred literally hundreds of scorpions and I have only had this happen 1 time with Parabuthus liosoma. I am not saying it wont happen but it is more rare with scorps than it is with tarantulas

 

[K3jser]

Brendan most ppl feed they female scorpion so the chances of she eating the male drops alot, and yes its possible to take the male after the meeting is done.. but if you power feed your female abit she proably wont eat him.. but dont overfeed..

 

[Brendan]

Well that'd be dumb lol. Who would wanna risk their Emp Scorp!?!?

 

[jeroenkooijman]

It can happen, but if the male has room for escape and the female is well fed this will not happen that fast. I have seen WC specimens being more agressive toward each other and it happens once with me in Pandinus imperator.

I just wrote that into the article as a warning it can happen.

 

[skinheaddave]

The interesting thing to look at here is selective pressures for post-mating canabalism. In species in which the male is only going to live a very short time aftewards and has a relatively narrow chance of mating again, post-mating canabalism is relatively common. After all, the female gets a good feed out of it and so has a better chance of producing offspring. The male has a relatively slim chance of mating again, thus producing more offspring, and there is not a great pressure to escape.

In species where the male is long-lived and has a chance of mating again, post-mating canabalism is generally much more rare. Scorpions are a good example of this -- a male who has mated may get to do so again repeatedly for many years. There is strong incentive to escape and produce more young over the years, rather than just providing a good meal for the current mate. Yes, sometimes canabalism does happen, but it is rare and, as far as I can tell, never without a fight.

Tarantulas are a sort of intermediate case. The male is realtively short lived and generally only has one season of mating oportunities once mature. He is, however, relatively mobile and will often have a good chance of finding another female in the area (especially given that many species stick to one spot and thus have a relatively small domain). So you do get a bit of munching, but also a lot of escapes.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[PhilK]

This happens alot in some of Australian species. Urodacus sp. females love to eat their mates. The U. elongatus male has evolved an extremely long tail to sting her into submission to avoid being killed before mating.

Makes you wonder how some of these species can procreate when the females attack the males so viciously

 

[skinheaddave]

Urodacus sp. females love to eat their mates. The U. elongatus male has evolved an extremely long tail to sting her into submission to avoid being killed before mating.

Interesting. Do you have citations for this?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Brettus]

Interesting. Do you have citations for this?

http://www.thedailylink.com/thespiralburrow/index.html

It is interesting how the habits of a species can influence the mating process. In the case of Urodacus elongatus, I don't believe it is true sexual cannibalism for the benefit of the female, as one might expect in a spider eating her mate for nutrients. Instead, the female is more likely to kill him prior to mating occurring, due to the intense territorial aggression of this species.

 

[Brettus]

Just as an addendum, the link goes to the index-go to the 'Features' link on the left-hand side and then go to 'Mating Ritual of Urodacus elongatus.'

 

[skinheaddave]

Very interesting indeed. Do you know if it has been established that the same selective pressures are at hand for the Hadogenes with dimorphic metasomas?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[PhilK]

The problem with species like U. elongatus and U. manicatus are that they are extrenely territorial. They occupy scrapes beneath rocks and defend them fiercely. So like Brettus said, much of the time the male is lucky to even get to the mating part.

manicatus females attack the male with such ferocity I had to seperate them for fear of losing him, and I haven't had the guts to reintroduce.