Sexual Cannibalism - Costs and Benefits For Males

Costs and Benefits For Males

The physiological impacts of cannibalism on male fitness include his inability to father any offspring if he is unable to mate with a female. There are males in species of arachnids, such as N. plumipes, that sire more offspring if the male is cannibalized after or during mating; copulation is prolonged and sperm transfer is increased . In the species of orb-weaving spider, Argiope arantia, males prefer short copulation duration upon the first palp insertion in order to avoid cannibalism. Upon the second insertion, however, the male remains inserted in the female. The male exhibits a "programmed death" to function as a full-body genital plug. This causes it to become increasingly difficult for the female to remove him from her genital openings, discouraging her from mating with other males . An additional benefit to cannibalization is the idea that a well-fed female is less likely to mate again . If the female has no desire to mate again, the male who has already mated with her has his paternity ensured.