Monday, March 23, 2015

Creature Feature #520: Nursery-web Spider

Nursery-web Spiders resemble wolf spiders. There are numerous species, the most well-known being the European Pisaura mirabilis. During courtship, the male spider presents the female with an insect, wrapped in webbing. Whilst the female is distracted, her mandibles otherwise engaged, he will surreptitiously mate with her, then make his escape before she decides to have him for dessert. If the female tries to escape wtih the gift, he may feign death, becoming limp and allowing himself to be dragged along until he can "resurrect" and resume copulation. The egg sac is carried in the mother's jaws, until they near hatching, when she constructs an elaborate tent-like nursery, puts her eggs inside and stands guard.

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