Redback spider love a deadly affair

FEMALE redback spiders eat male mates who do not spend enough time on foreplay.

To keep cranky females happy, their partners have to spend about 100 minutes on courtship, doing things such as vibrating their webs and rubbing their tummies.

But once the fickle babes are brought to a peak of amorous and receptive behaviour, they will let a stray male mate with them even if he hasn't done any courting at all.

If he's quick, he can do the business and then run off before she gets a chance to eat him.

Research by Maydianne Andrade and Jeffrey Stoltz of the University of Toronto in Canada found Australian redbacks chose males based on a courtship duration threshold.