Broken genitals function as mating plugs and affect sex ratios in the orb-web spider Argiope aurantia

Abstract

To curtail competition with their own sperm, males of several spider and insect species mutilate their genitals or sacrifice themselves entirely using their genital parts or their whole dead bodies as mating plugs. The orb-web spider, Argiope aurantia, is a species characterized by both male self-sacrifice and extreme female-biased sexual size dimorphism. Plugs may reduce female mating frequency and hence the availability of females to males as mates.