The Spiders That Choose Death
Among spiders, sex doesn’t just create life; it can also end it. Males of many species—including orb-weaving spiders, widow spiders, and wolf spiders—find their fortunes turning on a dime, as the females they’ve seduced begin to devour them alive, sometimes even before insemination is complete. Most eight-legged bachelors go to great lengths to avoid being eaten by their lover: Some try to massage her into a stupor, or bind her legs up with silk; others play dead, or detach their own legs to distract her with a precoital snack. It’s all in service of survival, so the male might live to mate another day.
Certain male widow spiders, however, have a very different view of these horrific meet-cutes. Within seconds of initiating intercourse,, flipping their back forward onto their mate’s mouthparts until she almost has no choice to take a bite. Her fangs pierce the male’s body, flooding him with digestive enzymes that liquefy his innards; she then drains him like a Slurpee, leaving only an exoskeleton behind.
