Female Killers

[OmanYorkie]

The female praying mantis and the female scorpion both kill their mates on mating, but do any other insects ?. Someone suggested the black widow spider does but I can find no reference to this.

[andy-hughes]

Female insects eating males during mating is a minorty activity - the majority of male insects simply die after mating.

Female redback and orb spiders eat their mates after mating.

The female mantis is more likely to eat her mate under laboratory conditions - additional stress makes her more aggressive.

In the wild, a female may eat a mate before they mate - natural selection determining that if he is weak enough to be prey, he was not strong enough to propgate the species.

Scientists believe that the removal of the male's head during mating sets off reactionary stimulation, causing him to ejaculate more fiercely and thus effectively.

Interestingly - out of three-thousand plus species of mantis, only one is renowned for ewating its mate, and then less than thirty-per-cent of matings end in death for the male.

Because of the fasciantion of this ritual, people believe that devouring of the mate is far more common than it actually is in nature.

[wildwood]

Scorpions sometimes kill their mate but not always, in fact less than half. And sometimes it is the female that gets killed.

Some species of spiders try to eat the male after mating but not if he is quick enough. It is the ones who can mesmerised the female best before sperm transfer that are the ones that get away and spread their genes again.

[squarebear]

The black widow spider is not an insect.

[andy-hughes]

True, and if we are being accurate - neither is a scorpion - both are arachnids.