Male dwarf spiders ensure offspring is their own
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 - 08:20
in Biology & Nature
Chastity belts were not first invented in mediaeval times - members of many animal groups have evolved similar mechanical safeguards to ensure their paternity. Male dwarf spiders, for instance, use mating plugs to block off the genital tract of the female they have just mated with. The larger and older the plug, the better the chances are that other males will not make deposits in a female's sperm storage organ, too. So says Katrin Kunz and co-authors of the Zoological Institute and Museum in Greifswald, Germany, in an article published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology about this European spider.