Some male spiders must present a gift to females to avoid being eaten

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If male nursery web spiders hope to win the affection of a female mate – and avoid getting eaten alive – they’d better show up with a decent gift.

It’s long been known that nursery web spiders use dead insects as ‘nuptial gifts’ to court their mates, and according to new research, this may work as a shield against sexual cannibalism.

In a recent study, researchers in Denmark found that males who didn’t present their potential mates with a gift were more likely to end up eaten, while those who did were allowed more time for sex.

Typically, the nuptial gifts of male nursery web spiders are the silk-wrapped carcasses of their prey. Earlier research that attempted to make sense of this practice dismissed it as having ‘no importance,’ but new examinations say these gruesome offerings could be actually be the difference between life and death.

In the study, published today in the journal Biology Letters, researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark found that the presents given to female nursery web spiders by the males that court them might be a precautionary tactic.

While sexual cannibalism runs rampant in the spider community, nursery web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis) are among the few spider species who are known to give nuptial gifts.

And, similar behaviour is seen throughout the animal kingdom.

The team analysed the mating rituals of more than 280 pairs of spiders, the LA Times reports.

Males who showed up empty-handed when paired with a female were cannibalized 15 percent of the time, the researchers found.