Palpal bulb must be inserted during mating correct?

[Ramen]

I have a friend saying that he witnessed his rear horned baboons pairing but did not see the male insert his palpal bulb into the females epigastric furrow. He only saw the male "drumming" on her area with his pedipalps. This is a failed breeding attempt correct? The male simply cannot rub his palps on her parts, there needs to be insertion?

 

[TheraMygale]

Depends on what he thinks he saw. Drumming is one thing, but their needs to be insertion.

maybe it happened and he didnt see it.

in doubt, try again.

 

[Ramen]

He didn't see insertion and tried to pair several times after the attempt and the female was not receptive to it. I wonder if maybe it was a success somehow, but I doubt it. My friend swears he didn't see insertion.

 

[A guy]

If the female was receptive the first few times and then was just suddenly not, then an insertion happened.

 

[Ramen]

Regardless of all of that, it wouldn't be possible for the female to ever be gravid by just rubbing the palps on her furrow, correct? There needs to always be insertion right?

 

[TheraMygale]

Regardless of all of that, it wouldn't be possible for the female to ever be gravid by just rubbing the palps on her furrow, correct? There needs to always be insertion right?

so what about phantom eggsacs?

 

[sparticus]

so what about phantom eggsacs?

Those are not fertile eggs. I believe they're talking about fertilized eggs here. And yes, for eggs to be fertilized the sperm needs to go where the eggs are, which in this case is inside the female spider. That's basic biology.

 

[TheraMygale]

Those are not fertile eggs. I believe they're talking about fertilized eggs here. And yes, for eggs to be fertilized the sperm needs to go where the eggs are, which in this case is inside the female spider. That's basic biology.

i meant to say, tarantulas, can still lay eggs, even if infertile. I think i didnt undertstand the definition of english word: gravid. I thought it meant pregnant with eggs, unfertile or not.

 

[NMTs]

i meant to say, tarantulas, can still lay eggs, even if infertile. I think i didnt undertstand the definition of english word: gravid. I thought it meant pregnant with eggs, unfertile or not.

You are correct - gravid means carrying eggs, but does not mean that the eggs are fertile. For the eggs to be fertilized, the male must insert his emboli into the female's epigastric furrow and deposit his sperm into the spermathecae. The female will release the sperm at the time she lays her eggs, thus introducing the male genetic material to the eggs for fertilization. If the male never made a successful insertion during pairing, then there is no way the eggs can be fertilized when she lays them. In this case, though, given the behavior of the female during successive pairing attempts, I would suspect that there was a successful insertion at some point.