Herennia multipuncta | Mating

[Sucheth Lingachar]

Photographed in the campus of Kabini...
It is often said that the male (usually significantly smaller than the female, down to 1% of her size) is likely to be killed by the female after the coupling, or sometimes even before intercourse has been initiated.

Nikon D3100, F/5.6, 1/400s,ISO 400, 30mm

[Atul Sinai]

Beautiful image, well captured. Probably Abhishek will be able to help here. TFS

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice behavior captured. Which lens were you using? Wish you had got a more close-up as that would have helped to avoid the out of focus broken bark on the right, as it attracts attention. Maybe trying a vertical composition would have helped or moving the camera more to the left. Thanks for sharing.

[Sucheth Lingachar]

Thank you Atul and Mrudul for your comments...

Mrudul: I was using Nikor 18-55 lens

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Herennia multipuncta (Ornamental tree trunk spider). Great that you could witness and capture this.
It is true that many males are eaten by the females either before or after mating. This is simply because the female interprets anything of substantial size moving on the web as prey. If the male is too small, the female usually doesn't bother to eat him. However, the males of many species produce vibrations on the web or touch the female's body in such a way as to have a hypnotic-like effect on the female, to avoid being eaten. In jumping spiders, one even finds complex ritualised dances and gestures (as seen in birds, mammals etc.)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Interesting. Full marks for spotting this. Good information by Abhishek. I agree that a vertical composition in this situation would have been better. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Sucheth Lingachar]

thank you Abhishek for the ID Help...