Data on courtship and mating
have been recorded for only a very small percentage of the world’s species,
and these observations have generally been limited to members of the
families Eremobatidae (Muma 1966, Punzo 1998), Solpugidae (Wharton 1987),
and Galeodidae (Heymons 1902, Amitai et al. 1962, Junqua 1966, Cloudsley-Thompson
1967). More recently, Peretti (2006) has published studies on South
Male solifuges, at least in
the Namib Desert, search for mates in much the same way that females and
immatures search for food, at times traveling considerable distances in
search for their heart’s desire (Wharton 1987). Junqua (1966) observed that
males are capable of mating multiple times. All male solifuges, except for
those in the family Eremobatidae, have flagella on the chelicerae and though
there is no conclusive evidence as to their function, they are thought to
play a role in the establishment of territories during the mating phase (Lamoral
1975). Wharton (1987), while not dismissing the findings of Lamoral, noted
that in the species he studied, the male flagellum is inserted into the
female reproductive tract during mating.
Although there is some variation
in mating behavior among taxa, there are some generalities. Upon location
of a prospective mate, males use their pedipalps to coerce the female into a
‘frozen state’ or torpor. This may be a chemoresponse by the female, but
the same response has been elicited solely by mechanical handling (Heymons
1902, Junqua 1966). Males use their chelicerae for positioning of the
female and for indirect sperm transfer. The male will bend her abdomen over
her prosoma and transfer sperm on his chelicerae into her genital opening (Punzo,
1998). Sometimes, the male will ‘chew’ or massage the abdomen of the
female, before moving away from the female as she slowly comes out of the
torpor. In galeodids and solpugids, the spermatophore is released from the
male’s genital opening while the male is massaging the female with his
chelicerae. He then picks up the spermatophore with his chelicerae and
forces it into the genital opening of the female. In eremobatids, the
spermatophore is transferred directly from the genital opening of the male
to the genital opening of the female.
Amitai, P., G. Levy and A. Shulov. 1962.
Observations on mating in a solifugid Galeodes sulfuripes Roewer.
Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel, Section B, Zoology 11: 156-159.
Cloudsey-Thompson, J.L. 1967.
Reproduction in Solifugae. Entomologist's monthly Magazine 103: 144-145.
Heymons, R. 1902. Biologische
Beobachtungen an Asiatischen Solifugen. Abb. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 90: 1-65.
Junqua, C. 1966. Recherches
biologiques et histophysiologiques sur un solifuge saharien
Panouse. Mem. Mus. natn. Hist. nat. Paris, (NS), A, Zool., 43: 1-124.
Lamoral, B. 1975. The structure and
possible function of the flagellum in four species of male solifuges of the
family Solpugidae. Proc. 6th International Congress of Arachnology, pp.
Muma, M. H. 1966. Mating behavior of
the solpugid genus
Eremobates Banks. Animal
Behavior 14: 346-350.
Peretti, A. 2006.
does not exclude luring behavior in the climbing camel-spider
(Arachnida, Solifugae, Ammotrechidae). Journal of Ethology.
Punzo, F. 1998. The Biology of Camel-spiders (Arachnida,
Solifugae). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.
Wharton, R. A.
1987. Biology of the diurnal
(Kraepelin) (Solifugae, Solpugidae) compared with that of nocturnal species.
Journal of Arachnology, 14: 363-383.