Female Red Velvet Mites are bigger than males but they don't actually mate. Instead the male does a mating dance in which he constructs a intricate silken web of sperm often on a twig. If a female finds the web and its construction impresses her, she will find the artist and sit on the sperm. If, however, another male finds a web of another males sperm, he will destroy it and create his own, new web. so not sure what is going on here.
Describe how you intend to use these images and/or audio files and your request will be sent to the author for consideration.
Your request has been successfully submitted to the author for consideration.
1,893,037 sightings of 21,044 species in 9,272 locations from 12,889 contributors CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.