Sexual Cannibalism in Australian Redback Spiders

Illustrating the ultimate in selfish genes... Male Australian redback spiders have only one shot to mate successfully and pass on their DNA to the next generation. In this video, you can see how a male spider starts to mate with the much larger female, and how he somersaults his abdomen onto the female's jaws. The female begins to eat the male while mating is completed. What the Dickens is the male thinking? Because mating continues longer and is more successful when the male allows himself to be eaten, and because females are less likely to accept a second suitor when full, it appears the dead male wins when it comes to passing on his genes to the next generation.