Neriene digna
(Eared Dome Sheet-web Weaver)

Picture ID 57734

Picture of Neriene digna (Eared Dome Sheet-web Weaver) - Male - Eyes
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ItsyBitsy

Hi, this looks like Neriene digna. 🙂

AAAAAHHHHHH

Why’s it look like it’s got a ballsack for a face? No offense.

TangledWeb

LOL! My husband and I enjoyed this question. 😉 You actually have the answer in your question. He’s carrying around his semen to show it off and to be ready to use it. Really! The appendages are called pedipalps. They are sensory organs and they can draw in semen like an eye dropper. You’re gonna learn more spider sex-ed than you expected here. The male deposits his semen on his web in the normal way. Then he picks it up and carries it. Male spiders don’t mate with their penis directly. The shape of his swollen palp is used for… Read more »

TangledWeb

Part 2 of “Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Spider Sex, But Were Brave Enough To Ask.” So, the male is following the scent of a sexually mature female, showing off his palps. When he finds her she might expect him to dance for her and/or give her a nice present, like a fly wrapped in silk. If she accepts him he places his palp in an opening near her head and puts the semen into a duct where she’ll store it with semen from other males. When she releases her eggs into an egg sac she’ll coat them… Read more »

Additional Pictures

Picture of Neriene digna (Eared Dome Sheet-web Weaver) - Dorsal Enlarge Picture
Picture of Neriene digna (Eared Dome Sheet-web Weaver) - Male - Dorsal Enlarge Picture