- Joined
- Jan 25, 2007
- Messages
- 4,212
there has been documentation in new zealand of katipos (L. katipo) and redbacks (L. hasselti) mating with each other to produce offspring.
can the same be done with NA species? a friend of mine has tried this once with hesperus and mactans. a female hesp was paired with a male mac. the result was a dud sac, no offspring. but in the case of the new zealand species, is it a male-specific thing? anyone have any experience with this?
as an experiment, tonight i paired a female mac with a male hesp. witnessed several insertions and mating lasted for a couple of hours, with a very long courtship period.
hesperus and mactans were used b/c it's been figured that they might be the 2 closest relatives and they are the ones whose ranges would be most likely to overlap.
anyway, let me know what y'all think. would be interested to hear some experiences if anyone has them.
can the same be done with NA species? a friend of mine has tried this once with hesperus and mactans. a female hesp was paired with a male mac. the result was a dud sac, no offspring. but in the case of the new zealand species, is it a male-specific thing? anyone have any experience with this?
as an experiment, tonight i paired a female mac with a male hesp. witnessed several insertions and mating lasted for a couple of hours, with a very long courtship period.
hesperus and mactans were used b/c it's been figured that they might be the 2 closest relatives and they are the ones whose ranges would be most likely to overlap.
anyway, let me know what y'all think. would be interested to hear some experiences if anyone has them.