Nephilengys malabarensis female with a severed male palp (red box) lodged in her epigynum after copulation, and a half-cannibalized male at her side. Image
Researchers have known for some time that the male sex organ, called a palp, in orb-web spiders is often broken off during copulation with females; what hasn’t been so clear is why. Now, new research by Daiqin Li of the National University of Singapore and colleagues have found, as they describe in their paper published in Biology Letters, that by breaking off their palp, the male spiders ensure that more of their sperm enters the female after he runs away or is eaten by his partner.
