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Nursery web spider

Pisaura mirabilis

Description:

The male is between 10–13 mm, while the female is 12–15 mm. Males of this species offer food gifts to potential female mates. Some Pisaura mirabilis have also been observed to feign death, remaining still while holding the food gift in their mouths. When the female approaches and tries to take the food away, the male springs back to life and attempts to mate. The strategy of playing dead more than doubles a male's odds of successfully achieving copulation, from 40% to 89%.This is an example of a behavior originally evolved to ward off predators being adapted to a new purpose

Notes:

spotted in my house

1 Species ID Suggestions

injica
injica 10 years ago
Nursery Web Spider
Pisaura mirabilis Pisaura mirabilis


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1 Comment

Thanks Injica for the ID

Braga, Portugal

Spotted on Apr 24, 2013
Submitted on Apr 30, 2013

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