Researchers discovered that male black widow spiders "twerk" when they enter a female's web in an effort to preserve their lives.
When a male spider approaches a female he rapidly moves his abdomen, these small vibrations let the female know they are being confronted with a mate instead of a midnight snack, a Simon Fraser University news release reported.
In order to make this finding researchers recorded the vibration patterns of "black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus), hobo spiders (Tegenaria agrestis) and prey insects," the news release reported.
"The web functions as an extension of the spider's exquisitely tuned sensory system, allowing her to very quickly detect and respond to prey coming into contact with her silk," SFU graduate student Catherine Scott said. "This presents prospective mates with a real challenge when they first arrive at a female's web: they need to signal their presence and desirability, without triggering the female's predatory response."
The team noticed a distinct difference between the vibrations given off by prey and the ones emitted from the male suitors. They noticed the black widow's low-amplitude vibratory signals were the most distinctive.
"The vibrations were very different from those produced by prey. They were long-lasting and of very low amplitude, just like a constant humming," Samantha Vibert, an entomologist at SFU told National Geographic.
"These 'whispers' may help to avoid potential attacks from the females they are wooing," Scott said in the news release.
The researchers did not observe hobo spiders twerking. Black widow males are much smaller than females and can easily be overpowered so this could explain why this extra defense is necessary. Female hobo spiders are also less likely to much on potential or recent mates, National Geographic reported.
The team found that when they played the male black widow spider's vibrations at a louder volume than usual the female attacked.
"The males 'twerk' to avoid triggering a female's predatory instinct, or even to turn it off," Vibert told National Geographicreported.
