It is the human equivalent of a zircon engagement ring. The South American male spider, Paradossenus longipes, gives an empty nuptial gift to his prospective mate. This behavior of giving a silk wrapped gift is shared with three other spider species, but P. longipes is the only one observed that gift wraps an empty gift. Watch this video of the deceiver in action:
Scientists are not sure how this empty gift giving improves the male's chances of successful breeding. Nuptial gifts are a subject of on-going research. Maria Albo, assistant professor at Uruguay’s University of the Republic and the Clemente Estable Biological Research Institute, and a lead researcher of the study told Mongabay Bay “As far as I know, there is a single example [of empty gift-giving] in insects and, in spiders, this is the first.” Since the fake bling does not obviously benefit the female, is the male communicating his reproductive fitness in another way? One theory is deception: a male gives a worthless gift, saving time and energy, to trick a female into mating without expending effort. Another more altruistic explanation is that the female can consume the silk and its valuable proteins.
The research team ran mating trials, a sort of spider speed dating, giving the male spiders a choice between a nutritious and a worthless gift, then pairing them with females. They performed the trials until a male was caught on video giving a silk-wrapped nada to his paramour. P. longipes, which is Latin for long legs, could be easily overlooked in its habitat being small, brown, and hanging out on the underside of stream-side leaves. Its claim to fame however, are its long front legs and its peculiar habit of giving his mate something to think about and nothing else.
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| credit: M. Albo; arrow indicates silk packet |