Female Funnel Weaving Spiders Play Dead to Attract the Best Mates [Study]

Female funnel weaving spiders play dead by curling up themselves during sex to attract the best male sexual partners. While seem extraordinary, there has been a prevailing scientific explanation behind such behavior, to avoid sexual cannibalism.

Previous research has shown that females of the said spider species eat their male counterparts after a sex.

With this, scientists are curious if the 'playing dead' behavior known as sexual catalepsy is triggered by the female spider, the male funnel weaver spider, or a combination of chemical reactions. One such scientific inquiry came into light as a new study in March 2023, wherein researchers determined the cause of the unusual behavior involving the funnel web spiders.

Last year, scientists in a separate yet related study have found that the males developed a strategy to avoid becoming a post-sex snack of the female spiders. The strategy reportedly involves a catapult-like mechanism, wherein the male spiders use their whole body as a projectile to move away from the females immediately after sex.

Thanatosis: Playing Dead

(Photo : YURI KADOBNOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Playing dead during sex, also known as thanatosis, has been the central focus of the new study was published in the academic journal Currently Zoology on March 21, wherein researchers determined that females adopt sexual catalepsy to control the mating process.

The said strange behavior is response to the theoretical notion that male and female members of dioecious species are normally caught up in an "evolutionary sexual conflict" when pertaining to the frequency of sex and choice of a mating partner, the study explains in its abstract.

In this context, female sexual cannibalism is the manifestation or sign of this conflict, which is also common in some animal taxa, including spiders such as some female funnel weaving spiders, which are generally aggressive toward males.

Also Read: Seven New Amazing Funnel Web Spiders Discovered in Underground Habitats in Israel's Caves

Sexual Catalepsy

Researchers of the research paper acknowledged that sexual catalepsy is known in the scientific community. However, it is not clear if whether or not the female spiders are intentionally immobilizing themselves for the sake of the males or if the latter have control over the females' behavior, as cited by Live Science.

To understand such behavior, the research team engaged in experiments on funnel weaving spiders from the species Aterigena aculeata to compare thanatosis with related behaviors to confirm if it was controlled by males or females.

As a conclusion, the results showed females control sexual catalepsy, as a means for them to choose their mates. The study's co-author and evolutionary biologist, Mark Elgar, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, stated that mating only occurs if the female spiders enter the state of sexual catalepsy, as cited by Live Science.

As mentioned earlier, male orb weaver spiders (Philoponella prominens) use the catapult mechanism to avoid female sexual cannibalism. These findings were published in the journal Current Biology in April 2022, which was also covered by Nature World News.