The jun 28l/july 4th economist reports a report in the proceedings of the royal society about Orb weaving spiders.
Apparently in one species the male dies immediately before the female attacks him.
The reason is that when the male inserts a sperm organ called a pedipalp into the female and then inserts his second pedipalp in the female and he dies. Apparently this causes the pedipalps to inflate and lock up in the female, thus preventing other males from inseminating the female. So by dying he increased the chances of his genes propagating.
Link to article:
Does Mrs. Mantis bite Mr. Mantis’s head off during The Act?
She eats him but it’s after he’s died.
Thanks for your information in the opening post, nickn, and welcome to the SDMB. I think I’ve found an on-line article related to information you mentioned.