Crossing experiments suggest a simple genetic basis of complex male self-sacrifice phenotypes in widow spiders.

Abstract excerpt

Sexual cannibalism is among the most extreme outcomes of sexual conflict, and the Australian widow spider Latrodectus hasselti is well known for this behaviour. Curiously, males of L. hasselti actively facilitate cannibalism through self-sacrificial mating traits. During copulation, the male somersaults his abdomen onto the female's fangs and develops an abdominal constriction that prevents his premature death,...

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