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May 8, 2015 4:17 PM

“The point that she opens the egg sac is the point that she stops feeding,” says Mor Salomon, a biologist at the Israel Cohen Institute for Biological Control. “We have tried giving them food in the lab, but it just doesn’t work—they just don’t feed.” -- Absurd Creature of the Week: The Spider Mother That Barfs Up Her Guts to Feed Her Kids, by Matt Simon for Wired.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (19 comments total)

You couldn't save this until Sunday?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:18 PM on May 8, 2015 [9 favorites]

Having breasts is a distinct advantage.

Oh, fuck I just pictured a spider feeding her young at her breasts.

I can't unsee it! Trepanation and a bleach bath for my brain!
posted by hippybear at 4:21 PM on May 8, 2015 [5 favorites]

Oh, fuck I just pictured a spider feeding her young at her breasts.

Even with 8 legs, that wouldn't be practical, and, anyway, how is that more upsetting than the actual article!?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:40 PM on May 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Willies: Activated!
posted by slkinsey at 4:42 PM on May 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

I can't unsee it!

Have you ever thought about a really big spider?
posted by curious nu at 4:53 PM on May 8, 2015 [3 favorites]

This post is fully awesome.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:13 PM on May 8, 2015 [4 favorites]

Mor was my labmate during my masters! Good to see her work here. That said, S. lineatus is not the only spider that shows matriphagy; there's also Amaurobius ferox. Also there's another social spider Anelosimus vierae where adult females regurgitate to feed juveniles.
posted by dhruva at 5:39 PM on May 8, 2015 [7 favorites]

There's also another social spider Anelosimus vierae where adult females regurgitate to feed juveniles.
posted by dhruva at 5:44 PM on May 8, 2015

Willies: Activated!
You might want to be clarify exactly what you mean by this.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:47 PM on May 8, 2015 [17 favorites]

Well, I just pictured spider breasts being dissolved.

I'm about to eat crab!
posted by halifix at 6:25 PM on May 8, 2015

Well that really kicks the shit out of Silverstein's tree metaphor.
posted by looli at 7:05 PM on May 8, 2015 [6 favorites]

The point that she opens the egg sac is the point that she stops feeding

SOUNDS A LOT LIKE MY EX WIFE LOL, I THINK ALL THE GUYS HERE KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING BOUT

NEVER SHOULD HAVE MARRIED A STEGODYPHUS
posted by threeants at 7:09 PM on May 8, 2015 [7 favorites]

threeants: "The point that she opens the egg sac is the point that she stops feeding

SOUNDS A LOT LIKE MY EX WIFE LOL, I THINK ALL THE GUYS HERE KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING BOUT

NEVER SHOULD HAVE MARRIED A STEGODYPHUS"

Same here, although mine never stopped feeding...
posted by Samizdata at 7:17 PM on May 8, 2015

btw, joseph conrad... that's a very nice jumping spider in the title :)
posted by dhruva at 8:00 PM on May 8, 2015 [4 favorites]

(Thanks - I modified it from elgilito's previous post, which I quite liked.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:14 PM on May 8, 2015

Malicious design.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:16 AM on May 9, 2015

Willies: Activated!
You might want to be clarify exactly what you mean by this.


I rather enjoy the ambiguity, myself.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:38 AM on May 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

It takes guts to be a spider mom.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:07 PM on May 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

YOU KIDS MAKE ME PUKE! LITERALLY! WOULD IT BE TOO MUCH TO CALL YOUR POOR MOTHER?!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:07 PM on May 9, 2015