Template:POTD/2009-12-28
Pisaura mirabilis is a species of nursery web spider, so named because the female will build a nursery "tent" in which to put the egg sac. Males of this species in particular have been known to offer food to potential female mates. Some will even play dead: when the female approaches to take the food, the male springs back to life to attempt to mate. This gives the males over a 40% success increase of achieving copulation.Photo credit: Richard Bartz