MOTHERHOOD is no bed of roses, and for some it can be deadly.
Regurgitated food is not enough for young Stegodyphus lineatus. These velvet spiders eat their mother, an act called matriphagy, and she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she prepares herself for it. Her abdominal tissues start to break down before the young hatch, making her more palatable for when the babies are 2 weeks old (Journal of Arachnology, doi.org/2s8)
This meal may give her young a head start in the desert. The mother’s ovaries wait longer before breaking down, says study leader Mor Salomon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, which may let her make more eggs if things go wrong.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Spiders find their mummy yummy”
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