Surviving Sex with a Widow

We've all heard the gruesome details - the black widow spider eats the mate once they have finished having sex. Hollywood even made a movie called the Black Widow about a gold-digging woman who goes through husband after husband, killing them to collect the inheritance.

Apparently, only the clueless males are the ones being eaten in the insect world. The latest research shows that male black widow spiders can detect those females who are well-fed from those who are hungry. Choosing a well-fed female is a lifesaver for the male because the female is less likely to devour him once the mating is over.

The North American Black Widow, known as the Latrodectus Hesperus, has developed a wicked reputation over the years of consuming the partner after having sex. This blood-thirsty courtship has evolved into numerous claims that the venom of the Black Widow is fifteen times more deadly than a rattlesnake.

Animal Behavior reported that, "We found that males courted well-fed females significantly more than they did starved females." Imagine that, the males aren't quite as clueless as originally thought.

The entire time I was researching this newest discovery in the spider world of mating, I kept humming the Engelbert Humperdinck tune, "After the Loving." I wonder if the male Black Widows could have sung the females to sleep? Just saying, I think it would have been worth a try. You can listen to Engelbert belt it out here.

Instead of After the Loving, I'm still in love with you, the Black Widow males would be signing, "After the Loving, I'm still alive."

Sources:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347211002247

http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2011/08/15/surviving-sex-with-black-widows

http://www.livescience.com/15454-surviving-sex-black-widows.html

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/spiders/Latrodectus%20hesperus.htm

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/black-widow-spider/