Spiders is the subject of the day

Sexual dimorphism is common in spiders - One quite striking difference is that females may be very much larger in size than males. The other thing is the pedipalps, which are actually just legs without the metatarsus. On the left is a leg (over) and a pedipalp (under) of a tarantula. The spider with the red pedipalps is really cool . The males load the pedipalps with sperm before copulation and insert them into the female genitalia opening. Mating is preceeded by courtship - using behavior (following drag lines), pheromones , etc. It is a myth that the female will ususally eat the male after copulation - but the male should try to keep his distance!







The drawing below is of a typical mating position for crab spiders. The male (black) will signal and subdue the female by spinning threads around her legs.




The result of the copulation is, of course, eggs and to the left a female enclosing her eggs in a silken egg sac is shown. Above is an example of brood care in a wolf spider (Lycosidae). She is carrying her newly born babies on her back. It is also a good picture because the eyes and chelicera are very clear.