"Guardian Spider" - Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) - Animalia Kingdom Show
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Close look at "Guardian Spider" - Pisaura mirabilis.
Care of the "egg", the offspring and unsuccessful breeding
Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) - family Pisauridae.
Male 10–13 mm, Female 12–15 mm.
Males of this species offer a nuptial gift to potential female mates. Some Pisaura mirabilis have also been observed to use thanatosis during courtship. After presenting the nuptial gift to the female, as part of the courtship, the female bites on to the gift and the male moves to her epigyne to deposit sperm via inserting his pedipalps. Throughout the corpulation, the male keeps a leg on the gift, so as to be ready if she tries to escape with the gift, or attack him. It is in the latter situations that the male will sometimes feign dead. His limbs become straight, and he is dragged along with the female, while holding on to the gift. When the female finally stops, the male will slowly "ressurrect" and will continue attempting to mate. The mating strategy of thanatosis in Pisaura mirabilis has been observed to significantly increase the male's odds of successfully achieving copulation, from less than 30% to 80%.
2014 © Lukas Karnatowski