Male House Spider

Description:

Parasteatoda tepidariorum (formerly known as Achaearanea tepidariorum) - the American House Spider. You can tell it is a male from the much smaller size compared to the female and the enlarged pedipalps (aka "boxing gloves") which serve as male sex organs in spiders. The male inserts these on the underside of the female during mating to transfer sperm. If the male is "lucky" they may break off during the process, thus blocking other males from mating with the same female and allowing him to make a quick escape. If he can't get away quickly enough, he may just become the female's next snack. Either way, male spiders often only get a chance to mate once in their life time. He was nervously feeling his way around a female's web, but in the end he was a coward and ran away.