The male communal orb-weaving spider is a regular relationship ghoster.
The male spiders will beat a retreat and throw themselves away from their partner faster than most cameras can record. They usually come back for more.
What sounds like a cruel on-again, off-again romance is actually the male's way of saving its neck.
He risks becoming a post-sex snack if he doesn't split immediately after fornicating.
Only three males failed to escape in the aftermath of 155 successful spider matings studied by researchers.
All of the unfortunate creatures died the same way. They were eaten by the female.
When researchers stopped the males from jumping away after copulation, they also fell prey to their partners.
The results clearly show that catapulting behavior is an essential component of the male mating repertoire and a strategy to avoid the females after having sex.
The smaller male spider is copulating. Shichang Zhang.
Researchers have figured out how males of this species escape the clutches of their sex partners by filming them with high-resolution, high-speed cameras.
The male orb-weaving spiders appear to use their front legs to kick off the female, throwing themselves through the air at up to 88 centimeters per second.
Researchers found that the spider will spin around 175 times during their flight.
The male's first pair of foreleg bend against the female before opening up to push the spider off.
The fluid build-up in the forelimbs allows the male to jump away with such incredible speed.
This is a slightly different mechanism to what is seen in other jumping spiders, which tend to extend their fourth pair of legs to soar through the air. The joint among orb-weaving spiders lacks extensor muscles.
In the wild, a male orb-weaving spider will sometimes mate six times with the same female, climbing up to the partner, copulating, and then bouncing off her body to escape her clutches. He will lose a few legs in the process.
The male keeps a safety line tied to the female's web. He should be prepared for another round.
When researchers cut the safety line in the lab, male spiders dropped out of the air and were unable to climb back up to the female.
The abseiling technique is thought to have evolved as a strategy for male spiders to outwit the other sex.
Females may use this behavior to judge the quality of a male during sex.
If a male could not perform catapulting, then kill it, and if a male could perform it multiple times, then accept its sperm.
The human dating scene was brutal.
Current Biology published the study.
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