Better than "Sex in the city" - spider courtship

Although this information is not new too me, I thought it was well written and wanted to share it with you. The extract is from Filmer’s Spiders.

“When it comes to reproduction, most people would say ‘I’m glad I’m not a spider. Spiders have earned a reputation for cannibalism following mating, and arachnid reproduction can indeed be dangerous for the male, and is also highly complex – both in the courtship phase and in the actual mating process.

Unique to spiders is the modification of the male pedipalps (feelers) as organs of reproduction. As remarkable is the fact that the female epigynum(genital organs) is so constructed as to accept only the configuration of her conspecific male’s pedipalp. This ‘lock-and-key’ mechanism ensures that there can be no species mixing. (Spider taxonomists rely almost entirely on the shape and configuration of the sexual organs to identify different species.)

Immature spiders are, for all practical purposes, sexless. In immature males, the pedipalps are nonfunctional, as is the epigynum in immature females. These develop into functional reproductive organs at the time the final ecdysis (shedding of the hard exoskeleton) into adulthood. Once fully mature, the male’s single aim in life is to find a female with which to mate.

Before courtship begins, the male’s pedipulps have to be charged with seminal fluid, in both males and females, the genital pore is situated on the ventral (under) side of the abdomen, between the book lungs. To transfer sperm from this pore to the pulps, the male spider first spins a sperm web (a small, triangular or square web) just above the substrata. Straddling the web, he deposits a drop of sperm at its centre. The spider then either dips his palps into the sperm or presses his palps up against the sperm from the underside of the web. Similar to an old-fashioned fountain pen, the embolus (the sex organ situated at the end of the pedipalp) draws up the fluid.
The female spider lives a solitary life devoted to catching prey and feeding. Whatever moves in her vicinity, she will attack and either kill or drive off. As a result, the male spiders have evolved a complex and amazing variety of courtship rituals, only a few of which is described here. There are two main approaches, and these are based on the visual ability of the particular species. Long-sighted spiders are mainly diurnal (daytime) maters, while short-sighted ones will mate at any time.

Once a female has been located, it is up to the male to convince her that he is a male of her species and that she should succumb to his advances. In the families Lycosidae and Salticidae, which have good vision, the males carry out and elaborate courtship dance. The lycosid male waves his pedipalps up and down in rhythmic movements while tapping the front pair of legs on the substrata. He moves slowly towards the female, awaiting a signal that she is ready to accept him and that she will not attack. There may be some leg touching and rubbing before actual mating takes place. Some salticid males are adorned with elaborate hairs – often brightly coloured – on their palps. Waving these, with the first pair of front legs raised high above his head, the spider moves in an arc around the female, waiting for her signal of acceptance. On the other hand, those spiders with poor vision do not have and elaborate courtship dance and may indulge in no more than some leg tickling before mating occurs.

For most web-building spiders, courtship is purely a tactile affair, with the male coming to the edge of the web and plucking or tapping on the silken strands to announce his presence. Some araneid males are much smaller than their mates and in Argiope the female can weigh up to a thousand times as much as the male. Obviously the Argiope male has to be extra careful to avoid becoming a meal!! In some of the larger araneid species, the male approaches the female’s web and tweaks the strand on which she is sitting. Invariably, he has to drop down on a drag line to avoid her initial rush forwards to attack, before clambering back up to the web and trying again …… and again and again and again!

Once the female is convinced that her suitor is a prospective mate and not prey, the male spins a special mating thread. He proceeds to lure the female onto this thread with more plucking and tweaking movements. Female araneid ardour is not long-lasting and once mating has occurred, the male has to beat a fast retreat or suffer being eaten. (Many spider genera do have much less complex and far more civilized mating procedures, however.)

The males of some spider families (for example the theridiids and linphids) are equipped with a stridalatory organ. Once on the female’s web, the male spider may stridulate, which causes a high-pitched vibration. The sound not only brings the female out into the open, but renders her receptive to the male’s approach.

The act of copulation can last from seconds to hours, depending on the species. In some, the courtship is greatly extended and the mating brief, while in others there may be hardly any courtship, while mating may last up to seven hours. The male inserts his pedipalps one at a time (or in the case of some more primitive spiders, both at once) into the female’s epigynum and thus transfers the sperm to her.

The most notorious spouse-eating spider is Latrodectus whose antisocial behaviour has earned it the common name “Black Widow Spider”.

There are some rather amusing mthods that male spiders use to avoid falling prey to their prospective mates. The male of some of the pisaurid species catches a fly and neatly enswathe it in silk, then, holding the wrapped gift in his chelicerae (mouth), he approaches the female. Once she has accepted it and has started eating it, he nips around and proceeds to mate with her. The males of some of the crab spiders are tiny in comparison to their mates. To overcome his size disadvantage, the male casts strands of silk to and fro across the female’s abdomen while she is laying in wait for prey, tying her down like the Lilliputians tied down Gulliver. Once she is secured in this way, he mates with her and then leaves her to her own devices. She may take several hours to extricate herself.”

My question now is "How much human behaviour do you see in the above?"