SPIDERS - Mating & Egg Laying

                    Mating can be risky business, particularly for male spiders - the male is often many times smaller than the female and, if she is not receptive to him, will become another meal for her. Males of many species cease feeding and web-building as soon as they mature, spending their time searching for females. In order to properly identify himself as a potential mate, the male may undertake an elaborate courtship dance, with the female's response determining whether he will approach close enough to mate. Courtship may begin with the male offering the female a dead insect.

A RISKY DANCE

Male Long-jawed Spiders have specially adapted chelicerae designed to hold the fangs of the female apart to prevent her eating him. Male funnelwebs have spurs on their front legs for the same purpose and some male crab spiders tie the female down with silk from which she breaks free soon after the male departs.

GETTING IN CLOSE

Sperm transfer in spiders is usually complicated. Before mating, the male produces sperm from an opening underneath his abdomen and deposits it on a small sheet of silk called a "sperm web". The sperm is then sucked up by the male's pedipalps ready to be transferred into the female's reproductive opening. Consequently, mating takes place with both sexes holding onto each other, close enough for the male to reach under her body and into the opening with one or both of his pedipalps. In some species, the male breaks off the tip of the pedipalp once it is in place to make sure it remains there securely.

THE NEXT GENERATION

All spiders reproduce by laying eggs, which come in a vast array of sizes and colours - green, white and pink being the most common. The eggs are usually deposited in an egg sac made of tough silk which may be guarded by the female until they hatch. Most orb-weaving spiders hide the egg sac in foliage at the edge of the web. The female Daddy Long-legs wraps the egg mass in a few strands of silk and carries it in her chelicerae.