The Stegodyphus Lineatus Spider
These spiders, also known as desert spiders, have some of the strangest mothering processes of the animal kingdom. Similar to the giant Pacific octopus, these spider mamas must die in order for their young to live.
In this gruesome twist on the octopus’s sad tale, the babies actively kill and eat their mama. After a month of feeding regurgitated meals to her new hatchlings, the mama spider willingly invites her murderous babies to climb over her body, where they inject her with lethal venom and digestive enzymes, and then devour her. Once they have eaten their loving mother, the murderous rampage continues as the strongest and fastest of the baby spiders cannibalize their siblings before finally leaving this web of nightmares and moving out into the world. This mama gives her life, and in one of the most gnarly ways possible, to ensure her babies can be strong enough to survive in this utterly weird world we live in.
