Low female mating frequencies often appear to be cases of direct male induction that can
oppose female interests. Mating plugs are most obvious means leading to low degrees of …

The male reproductive system and spermatozoa of spiders are known for their high
structural diversity. Spider spermatozoa are flagellate and males transfer them to females in …

Reproduction is a fundamental feature of life, it is the way life persists across the ages. This
book offers new, wider vistas on this fundamental biological phenomenon, exploring how it …

Background Pholcidae represent one of the largest and most diverse spider families and
have been subject to various studies regarding behavior and reproductive biology. In …

Arachnids and their relatives (Chelicerata) range in body length from tens of centimetres in
horseshoe crabs down to little more than 80–200 μm in several groups of mites. Spiders …

Once thought to be energetically cheap and easy to produce, empirical work has shown that
sperm is a costly and limited resource for males. In some spider species, there is behavioral …

Classic explanations of variation in mating systems critically depend on variation in
demography. Here, we emphasize how understanding dynamic links between fluctuating …

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is one of the most serious heavy metal pollutions in the world, which
has been demonstrated to cause different toxicities to living organisms. Cd has been widely …

Introduction It is generally thought that mating plugs, where present, impede or reduce the
possibilities of female subsequent mating. Behavioral studies on numerous spiders, where …

Extreme sexual size dimorphism in spiders is generally assumed to result from female
gigantism, male dwarfism or both. However, field evidence demonstrating the existence and …