Brown widow male spiders prefer sex with older females likely to eat them afterwards

(American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) 'Males don't seem to be behaving in their own self-interest and suffer a twofold cost -- fewer offspring and no opportunity to mate with another female,' the researchers say. 'One possible explanation is that older females are manipulating the males by using strong signals to attract them, a hypothesis that remains to be tested.'

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science https://ift.tt/2raVZ05