Redback

• GeneralThe female usually eats the male during mating.
• It practises a unique form of sexual cannibalism: during copulation the male performs a somersault that places his abdomen right over the female's fangs, and she begins to digest him while they are still mating.
• It is a sacrifice with an evolutionary logic. By prolonging copulation the male fertilises more eggs, the female becomes less receptive to other males, and the tip of his copulatory organ breaks off inside her and acts as a plug. Males that let themselves be eaten more than double their chances of paternity.
• Between 65 and 83 % manage to escape the first bite and repeat the manoeuvre with the second palp; most do not survive the process.
• The size difference between the sexes is enormous: the female's body measures some 10 to 15 mm and the male's barely 3 or 4.
• An antivenom has existed since 1956, and in Australia it is given in more than 250 cases a year. Deaths have been extremely rare ever since.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (arachnid)

Habitat & environment

Sheds, letterboxes, gardens and built-up areas

Litter / clutch size

Hundreds of eggs per sac, and several sacs per female

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_hasselti