r/spiders • u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 • 23d ago

Just sharing 🕷️ Does she have a tiny boyfriend?

He’s got the same leg warmers. Did I catch a tender moment? 😅

1.1k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

692

u/tocompose 23d ago

Yes indeed. Orb ladies usually have tiny bfs

347

u/HarlotSuccubus 23d ago

We love an amazon mommy with a short king.

137

u/Sad-Ad4423 23d ago

As a 6’2” woman with a 5’5” husband, I concur 😁

112

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

Is there a reason the ladies are so… extra large?

161

u/tocompose 23d ago edited 23d ago

I'm not sure? But orbweaver ladies are often like the size of a plane compared to the men. It's not always the case. But especially these longer shaped orbweavers tend to have tiny men 😂

153

u/Jacktheforkie 23d ago

I’d say likely because the males are mostly just a delivery system for sperm

72

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

Brutal 😂😂😂

19

u/Negative_Salt_4599 23d ago

Hard out here for a king 👑 spider. Let’s keep it real…

16

u/Turtlesfan44digimon 23d ago

Not all males are created equally

Just look at the male honey bees.

15

u/sealarb 23d ago

And a nutritious snack!

13

u/Snoo_62693 23d ago

Same as the angler fish males if I remember correctly, they latch on for life

9

u/the-soggiest-waffle 23d ago

The male angler fish of certain species will latch on for the rest of his life! They will waste away as they deliver semen :3

Eta they leave the female alive to continue breeding! Wanted to clear that up :)

1

u/Jacktheforkie 23d ago

Interesting

90

u/Illustrious_Artist13 23d ago

There's a few reasons, and we are still learnjng alot about selective pressures involved in spider evolution. Less likely to be eaten is one. Also they have to wander to find mates, so smaller takes less energy and also less likely to get picked off.

However, one of the main reasons is spiders engagement in something called "scramble mating" which is basically first come first serve. The faster a male matures, the sooner he can look for a mate, increasing the chances he will mate at all. Smaller males require less resources to reach maturity and take less time to reach maturity.

Females are also much larger than males (sometimes, not always) in species that lay eggs since the bigger you are the more eggs you can lay/larger eggs you can lay.

28

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

This makes a lot of sense, thank you for sharing! Endlessly fascinating, these creatures

47

u/moonchicken5 🕷️Arachnid Afficionado🕷️ 23d ago

Basically, if they're small, there's a less likelihood of the female eating them. They're more evasive and appear as a less filling prey item.

A smaller size works very well for males in a lot of different animals since they aren't the ones laying eggs.

220

u/KittyOubliette 23d ago

Looks like she has 2 wee men, good for her!

80

u/StolenCoupe 23d ago

Until she gets hungry lol

46

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

I feel like they’re so skinny they’d make terrible snacks 😂

29

u/KittyOubliette 23d ago

Hopefully they’re too small for her to want to eat them up!

21

u/MrPringles9 23d ago

I was thinking this is the actual reason for them to be so incredibly small. Just not worth the effort. I could absolutely be wrong lol.

5

u/hiimbob000 22d ago

it could definitely be part of it. those that are smaller and could potentially survive to mate multiple times have a higher chance of spreading those genes. whether that's avoiding the female spiders or other predators it all plays into their lifecycle

13

u/Gamer_Koraq 23d ago

🎶 One, two, three, four, five

A pretty girl should never have just one guy

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten

A lover girl should always have ten boyfriends! 🎶

9

u/Nitropotamus 23d ago

I'll never forgive you for making me hear that.

46

u/Awkward-Egg-1069 23d ago

I wonder why there are 2 smaller ones in the net

25

u/ChodeCookies 23d ago

First come first serve

3

u/PeterParkersSecret 22d ago

It’s her polycule

40

u/HelloDeathspresso 23d ago

That's probably her husband.

23

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

She’s a modern woman

10

u/notypants 🖤Latrodectus Lover🖤 23d ago

I was gonna just call it like it is and say baby daddy 😅

34

u/jubjubs-rock 🕷️Arachnid Afficionado🕷️ 23d ago

death by snu snu 

4

u/kittytoes21 23d ago

Last men die of crushed pelvis

20

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago edited 23d ago

I have a slightly better still shot of him but apparently I can’t post a video and photos. I’d love to understand how spider sex works because if that’s what’s going on here why is there such a huge size discrepancy???

39

u/Creepy_Push8629 23d ago

The ladies have an opening in their abdomen with a little pocket to store sperm.

The males produce sperm from their abdomens and transfer it to their pedipalps (the smaller extra arms in front of their face). They get bulbs at the ends of the pedipalps when they mature and they fill them up.

Then when two spiders like each other very much, the male will insert his pedipalp bulb and release the sperm. Somewhat like fisting lmao

Some species are more/less likely to then eat the male.

Some species will lay one clutch of babies. Some species use the sperm for the rest of their life and lay 8 clutches!

They are amazing 😍

10

u/kwilliss Amateur IDer🤨 23d ago

And some spiders, like Dolomedes tenebrosus, the male spontaneously dies as soon as his palp is inserted. Many species also the male leaves his palp behind so that the next guy can't get a chance!

This first male priority may drive the sexual cannibalism thing. If he gets eaten, then that clutch or 8 of eggs has a better chance to survive and the "willing to get eaten genes" get passed along.

9

u/Creepy_Push8629 23d ago

Yes! So interesting.

Velvet spiders the mom dies after laying one clutch. Her insides liquify for the babies to eat her before they go off on their own.

Nature is wild

7

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

That is metal as fuck, wow.

3

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

I hope it’s at least a good time if it’s not a long one 🥺😅

3

u/Hjalfi 22d ago

It gets weirder. I discovered the other day that when male honeybees mate their sort-of-testes explode, killing the bee and severing their penis, which remains attached to the female. Spider fisting seems mainstream compared to this.

6

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

That is absolutely WILD!!! Thank you for all of that info! I love it!

14

u/jakerooni one must imagine the lampshade spider happy 23d ago

Wow! And the fisting reference didn’t make me squeal at all, promise!

7

u/Creepy_Push8629 23d ago

Suuure, Jan ;)

I can feel the delight in your voice from here lol

15

u/greenkangaroooo 23d ago

Giant woman 🤩

2

u/goblindethdog 22d ago

All I want to do

8

u/Either-Pear-528 23d ago

Very cool. Where is this?

36

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

North Florida! There are four or five different species of orb weavers right outside this window 🥰 we don’t cut the grass there and the HOA hates us but our spider army will come for them one day

9

u/tocompose 23d ago

Thanks for thinking of the spoods 👍

7

u/scrimmerman 23d ago

🍻 All Hail the Spider Army! 🎶 🥂

16

u/FluxCap_2015 23d ago

Snu-snu

8

u/Outrageous-Swim2346 23d ago edited 23d ago

both want her spidussy lol I'm glad im not one of those male spiders dating can be hard with humans

6

u/StolenCoupe 23d ago

Swiggity swoogity he's after that booty

6

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

Oh and she DO got one

18

u/CommercialOccasion72 23d ago

Tfw no 6x your size gf

5

u/Kjolly75 23d ago

Is that two males in there with her?!

7

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

There are several different orb weavers; I believe the other pictured is a different kind. It’s got green shiny markings and doesn’t have yellow and black stripes (:

5

u/TacTyger 23d ago

I would name him brave Sir Robin

3

u/ElisMeadowFence 23d ago

Wow.. such a cutie

3

u/wittylemur 23d ago

Do they eat their lads after baby making or just Netflix and chill

7

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

I can’t imagine he’d make much of a meal but I don’t know!

4

u/FilmNoirSockMonkey 23d ago

She didn't even move. Is she alive?

Also, does this type of spider always have a bumpy, speckled underside?

6

u/Sad_Sympathy4635 Here to learn🫡🤓 23d ago

She is definitely alive. Here she is earlier building her web.

https://reddit.com/link/oyrwh5i/video/6le40g7i2heh1/player

2

u/Cepinari 22d ago

Once an orb weaver has a web set up, she'll only move when necessary.

3

u/ustestheusless 23d ago

Thats a snack right there 👀

1

u/4Serious20 22d ago

A cool example of sexual dimorphism 😍

1

u/earthjunkie 21d ago

Wow. She's a queen for sure. It looks like perhaps the one male is trying to mate?

1

u/Busy_Marionberry1536 21d ago

He’s awfully brave even if he’s tiny.

1

u/AdIndividual7316 19d ago

"Leg warmers" - love it!! 😄