Male Spider Mites Pull Off Skin Of Females During Mating

Experts have found a peculiar way of mating among spider mites.

A Live Science report said whenever a male spider mite is ready to mate, it usually strips off the skin of his partner.

This was discovered by scientists in Austria who were studying spider mites, or the relatives of arachnids such as spiders and scorpions.

During the experiment, scientists noticed that the male spider mites would guard the females, which typically reach sexual maturity at 10 days of age. They usually wait until their potential mates began molting their exoskeletons.

"The males are able to recognize when the premature females start molting because their exuvia [old, outer skin] turns silvery as air lodges between it and the new skin," Zoologist Peter Schausberger told Live Science.

Whenever the female spider mite is ready for mating, the male will then slip beneath his partner and use its pedipalps (needle-like mouthparts) to pull the skin off the female. Once removed, the male spider mite will then insert his aedeagus or his reproductive organ to his partner.

There were times that the female spider mites would "undress" themselves when it is already time for them to molt, according to researchers.

Competition in mating

A CNN report said that this action of male spider mites depict that they want to guarantee that they are "first in line" in the mating stage.

Competition in finding a mating partner is high among these species as they live in dense colonies. Further studies also indicated that female spider mites only use the sperm of the first male that they had copulated with.

The females even store this sperm in a specialized internal pouch so that their eggs could be fertilized.

Dr. Yukie Sato, an assistant professor from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, told CNN that the experiment done was excellent as it shows "males are effectively helping females molt and shortening the time to molt."

According to experts, male spider mites were not the only ones that practice this mating process.

Male butterflies were also observed to have been penetrating the casing of a female pupa, or the stage in a butterfly's life cycle after it turned into a caterpillar and cocoons itself into a chrysalis.

Even in butterflies, Schausberger said this could also result in high competition.

Schausberger added that these sophisticated behaviors are usually driven by sexual selection even among the tiniest of animals.

Spiders' dance moves

Meanwhile, a previous study discussed in Live Science had tackled how male wolf spiders win in the mating game. And that is through its intricate dance moves.

Researchers noted that the ability to execute a complicated move was not associated with size or strength in males.

This may actually give a hint to females that the male possesses a certain athleticism and grace.

Biologist Eileen Hebets said female spiders are maybe "looking for a male that is really athletic and can coordinate all of these different signals into one display" when it comes to the process of mating.

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