Alternative mating tactics in brown widow spiders: mating with or without male self-sacrifice does not affect the copulatory mechanism

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14310%2F25%3A00143271" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14310/25:00143271 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-025-00560-8" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-025-00560-8</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-025-00560-8" target="_blank" >10.1186/s12983-025-00560-8</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Alternative mating tactics in brown widow spiders: mating with or without male self-sacrifice does not affect the copulatory mechanism

Original language description

Background Male self-sacrifice during mating is one of the most extreme forms of male reproductive investment. In two species of widow spiders (genus Latrodectus), males trigger sexual cannibalism by "somersaulting" into the fangs of the female after copulatory coupling is achieved. In this position, sperm are transferred with the secondary sexual organs, the transformed pedipalps of the male, while the female starts feeding on his opisthosoma. In Latrodectus hasselti and L. geometricus, matings also occur with subadult females (i.e. females in their last moulting stage) but during these "immature" matings, males do not perform the somersault. Consequently, mating positions differ dramatically between matings with adult and subadult females. Here, we investigate the copulatory mechanism of adult and immature matings in the brown widow L. geometricus by shock-freezing copulating pairs and 3D X-ray microtomography. We hypothesize differences in the copulatory mechanism and depth of insertion of the sperm transfer structures between the two mating tactics. Results We found that the copulatory mechanism does not differ between adult and immature mating tactics and do not depend on whether a somersault occurs. Furthermore, the somersault does not improve intromission depth of the male sperm transfer organs into the female sperm storage organs. Conclusions Our results suggest that the somersault has evolved solely due to the selective advantages of sexual cannibalism. The costs and benefits of both mating tactics need to be further explored using paternity studies in order to understand their relative adaptive value.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10613 - Zoology

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Frontiers in Zoology

ISSN

1742-9994

e-ISSN

1742-9994

Volume of the periodical

22

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

1-12

UT code for WoS article

001458907400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105001511226