Sexual Cannibalism
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Adaptive ValueSexual cannibalism is a rare phenomenon even in generally cannibalistic populations because it is usually more costly than beneficial. The benefits of sexual cannibalism differ between the males and females of a species, and between species in general. The 3 Theories of Sexual Cannibalism: Female induced sexual cannibalism is largely hypothesized to occur for three reasons: 1)Adaptive Foraging
2) Aggressive Spillover
3) Mate Choice
These three theories may not be mutually exclusive. Often, experimental results on species of cannibalistic spider support multiple.There are further adaptive value hypotheses that discuss cannibalism in terms of egg health and offspring development. Multiple studies found that the mass of egg cases and number offspring which emerge and survive increase in the offspring of cannibalistic females. These studies theorize that perhaps a performance benefit is gained through male consumption since hatching success is indeed heightened. Somehow, the female body is stimulated through male consumption, though the exact mechanism through which this occurs is unclear, it is further discussed in the “mechanisms” section of this site. From a Male Point of View: In numerous sexually cannibalistic species males sacrifice their bodies to be fed on during copulation as a mating strategy for increased copulation length, therefore increasing the chances of successful insemination. Postcopulatory sexual cannibalism implies that male complicity to be killed is merely an extreme form of paternal investment, when paternal investment is not beneficial much past insemination. Further, in postcopulatory cannibalism, males should evolve to be more willing to be eaten when the expected number of male mating is low. No matter what, if sexual cannibalism means males have an increased change to inseminate a female, it increases male lifetime reproductive fitness, even if death following copulation is imminent. In postcopulatory sexual cannibalism, male allowance of cannibalism in order to support female life makes sense for the health of their offspring, but because there is no reproductive value for males to be eaten pre-copulation, adaptations must exist to ensure their reproductive success. In species where males are consumed pre-copulation, there exists selective pressure on males to evolve counter-adaptations to avoid being eaten. Some of these include the learned behavior of approaching females at times of day where predation risk is lowest or learning to recognize and avoid more threatening females. Many male spiders bind females in silk prior to copulation, and others evolved to be able to hold the female’s mouth open during copulation.
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