NATURE — In the deep, deep underground cult classic Nekromantic a crime scene sweeper with a morbid sexually experimental side learns with regret that his wife prefers the corpse he brought home for them to share more than she enjoys him. According to a recent study, this fictional story of undead love could be a page from the life of a popular male nursery web spider.While studying the sex lives of the creep crawlies does not generally elicit the same warm and fuzzy feeling that studying the lives of mammals does, it contains many fascinating examples of clever sexual selection and adaptation.
As told in a recent issue of the British magazine New Scientist, one of the more exotic ways that some male nursery web spiders capture the attention of pretty female spiders … play dead.
Study designer Trine Bilde of the University of Aaarhus in Denmark says that the ploy more than doubles the spider’s chances of having something to spoke a cigarette after, although no mention is made as to where the wet spot is or who sleeps on it most often.
Bilde and researchers chose the Pisaura mirabilis, a spider common to Europe, for their behavior ecology voyeurism. During the observation period, it was noted that all males attempted to get the attention of their preferred females by offering them food, held in their mouths. While lunch or dinner was enough to woo some ladies, others held off until their suitor lay inert and flat. Some even dragged their seemingly dead potential boyfriends off by the snack clutched in their mouths.
Not only did the pseudo-zombie spiders get spider-tang more often then their more lively meal conversationalist competitors – they got to sample it for longer, meaning more father’s day cards later in the season.
It’s not uncommon for animals to fake death in order to ward off attacks, but Bilde and crew think this is the first time it’s been seen as a way to smooth the way to romance and parenthood.
