Aggressive and cannibalistic female spiders can impose strong selection on male mating and fertilization strategies. Furthermore, the distinctive reproductive morphology of spiders is predicted to influence the outcome of sperm competition. Polyandry is common in spiders, leading to defensive male strategies that include guarding, plugging and self-sacrifice. Paternity patterns are highly variable and unlikely to be determined solely by mating order, but rather by relative copulation duration, deployment of plugs and cryptic female choice. The ability to strategically allocate sperm is limited, either by the need to refill pedipalps periodically or owing to permanent sperm depletion after mating. Further insights now rely on unravelling several proximate mechanisms such as the process of sperm activation and the role of seminal fluids.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.

侵略性和同类相食的雌性蜘蛛可以对雄性交配和受精策略施加强烈的选择。此外，预计蜘蛛独特的生殖形态会影响精子竞争的结果。一妻多夫在蜘蛛中很常见，导致雄性采取防御性策略，包括守卫、堵住和自我牺牲。父系模式是高度可变的，不太可能仅由交配顺序决定，而是由相对交配持续时间、插头的部署和神秘的雌性选择决定。战略性地分配精子的能力受到限制，要么是因为需要定期重新填充触须，要么是由于交配后精子的永久性消耗。现在，进一步的见解依赖于解开几种近似机制，例如精子激活过程和精液的作用。

本文是“精子竞赛五十年”主题刊的一部分。