德国研究人员通过杂交实验发现，雄性红背蜘蛛在交配时进行的"自我牺牲翻转"行为与其X染色体上的特定位置相关联[1]。研究人员将雌性新西兰katipō蜘蛛与雄性红背蜘蛛杂交，结果显示约一半的第三代后代也出现了翻转行为，表明这种交配策略具有相对简单的遗传基础[1]。
这项研究发表在《Biology Letters》[1]，揭示了红背蜘蛛在约10-20万年前与katipō蜘蛛分化后演化出这一独特的交配策略[1]。在31种寡妇蜘蛛中，仅有红背蜘蛛和褐寡妇蜘蛛通常表现出这种自我牺牲行为[1]。
German researchers have identified a genetic basis for the remarkable "self-sacrificial somersault" that male redback spiders perform during mating, a behavior that makes them vulnerable to being consumed by their mates [1]. By crossbreeding female New Zealand katipō spiders with male redback spiders, scientists discovered that approximately half of the third-generation offspring also exhibited the flipping behavior, suggesting the complex mating strategy has surprisingly simple genetic underpinnings [1]. The trait appears to be linked to a specific location on the spiders' X chromosome [1].
The research, published in Biology Letters on Wednesday, sheds light on how this distinctive reproductive tactic evolved after redback and katipō spiders diverged roughly 100,000 to 200,000 years ago [1]. Among the 31 known widow spider species, only the redback and brown widow spiders typically display such self-sacrificial behavior during copulation [1].