fatal widow spiders , nature ’s femmes fatales , have earned their name from a long - harbour belief that the females typically devour their manlike counterparts instantly after union . Butrecent researchhas unveil at least one species of the spider in which this less - than - romanticist habit is overturn .
After studying different pairing of the spiders ( lay down sure to keep them well - fed , so as to decree out hungriness - drive cannibalism ) , a team at Mazaryk University in the Czech Republic has conclude that , within theMicaria socialbilisspecies , manly spider are in reality much more probable to wipe out the females than to be eaten . Unlike the instances of distaff cannibalism , theM. socialbilismales most often eat up the females after their first contact , before any coupling has taken place . Older female person are more likely to be rust ; in the study , the reverse sexual cannibalism run into a peak when summer generation male encounter older females from the spring genesis . Among these older female spider , even great physical structure size or virginity — desirable traits that ordinarily only quicken a virile wanderer ’s sexual appetite — can’t save them from becoming a meal .
Despite the macabre subject issue and endless ammunition for sexist caper , the survey is actually a breakthrough . Said researchers Lenka Sentenska and Stano Pekar in the journalBehavioral Ecology and Sociobiology , “ Our study provides an insight into an unusual conjugation organization , which differs significantly from the general fashion model . Even males may select their potential collaborator and plainly , in some cases , they can present their choice as extremely as females do by cannibalizing unpreferred mates . "
