Australian study reveals that smaller spiders make better lovers
Last updated 11/12/2008 09:55:05
Australian study reveals that smaller spiders make better lovers
Bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to sex. An Australian university study has found, would you believe, that smallerspiders make more successful lovers than their larger rivals.
While large males outperform them in head-to-head mating contests, the smaller ones are better...er, between the sheets, a new study reveals.
The research, published in the current online issue of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, shows the importance of maturation in defining mating and paternity success.
It found larger males were better at mating with and impregnating females when they competed directly with smaller males. But when the faster-maturing smaller males were given a one-day head start, their paternity rate was 10 times higher than larger males.
"The results reveal that big males don't get it all their own way," says lead author, Dr Michael Kasumovic, of the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
"Nature favours larger and smaller males under different circumstances. Larger males experienced a longer maturation process so they are unable to search for and mate with females and produce offspring at the same rate as smaller redback spiders."
He added: "Large size and weaponry are strong predictors of a male's competitive strengths because those traits help them dominate smaller males when they compete for food and mating rights.
"However, evidence from studies of midges, dung flies and seed beetles reveals that smaller males develop sooner than larger males and often mate before larger competing males arrive on the scene. Size isn't the only ruler by which we can measure a male's quality. Many other factors, including maturation time, are critical in that definition."