Please wait...
About This Project
For a male black widow spider, life is a series of deadly challenges. He must first make a dangerous journey to find a female, then convince her to mate with him rather than cannibalize him before he can pass on his genetic material. At every stage, he will face fierce competition from rival males with the same agenda. In this project, we seek to understand how male black widows use chemicals produced by females and rivals to gain a competitive edge in the race to find and secure a mate.

Browse Other Projects on Experiment
Related Projects
Y-DNA A00 and the Peoples of Cameroon: In Search of the Homeland
This was the first phase of our fundraising campaign to support our fieldwork in Cameroon. We were very successful...
Can cockroaches help us cure tularemia?
Tularemia is a deadly disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis (Ft). This bacterium is also a...