Great news for our arachnid friends!

Science marches on, with important new research from Germany:

A trio of researchers working in Germany has discovered that male spiders do indeed have nerves in their genitalia, overturning prior research that has suggested otherwise. In their paper published in The Royal Society Biology Letters, Elisabeth Lipke, Jörg Hammel and Peter Michalik describe the various techniques they used to discover nerves in the arachnid palpal organ and their ideas on what purpose they serve.

For many years scientists have believed that the palpal organ in male spiders—the organ responsible for delivering sperm to the female spider—had no nerves in it. That would mean that the male would not be able to feel anything during intercourse, which some observers have likened to attempting sex with a fingernail in the dark. It appears prior researchers did not look hard enough, however, because the trio working on this new effort report that they have found evidence of nerves in the palpal organ.
To make their discovery, the team first cut up several of the organs (from a male Tasmanian cave spider) into extremely thin slices. They then looked at the samples using three different types of microscopes, one of which was a transmission electron microscope—and that allowed them to spot a tiny nerve. More work revealed two clusters of nerves in the bulb. They also spotted two previously unknown glands also in the palpal bulb which appeared to be connected the nerves they found. Using data from the microscopes, the team built a 3D model of the palpal showing where the nerves are in the organ.

The researchers suggest that the nerves in the palpal bulb might serve to allow the male spider to feel stress on the organ during copulation, helping to improve placement and thus chances of successful fertilization. It is also possible, they note, that the nerves help with guiding the palpal to the female sex organ. They believe that it is unlikely that such nerves exist only in the species they studied, which means other spiders likely have them too. More research will be needed to find out. The team also plans to study the nerves they found to see if they can determine their true purpose.

Explore further: Cutting a bugs' penis shorter found to reduce reproduction chances

For many years scientists have believed that the palpal organ in male spiders—the organ responsible for delivering sperm to the female spider—had no nerves in it. That would mean that the male would not be able to feel anything during intercourse, which some observers have likened to attempting sex with a fingernail in the dark. It appears prior researchers did not look hard enough, however, because the trio working on this new effort report that they have found evidence of nerves in the palpal organ.
To make their discovery, the team first cut up several of the organs (from a male Tasmanian cave spider) into extremely thin slices. They then looked at the samples using three different types of microscopes, one of which was a transmission electron microscope—and that allowed them to spot a tiny nerve. More work revealed two clusters of nerves in the bulb. They also spotted two previously unknown glands also in the palpal bulb which appeared to be connected the nerves they found. Using data from the microscopes, the team built a 3D model of the palpal showing where the nerves are in the organ.


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-nerves-male-spider-genitalia.html#jCp

—A trio of researchers working in Germany has discovered that male spiders do indeed have nerves in their genitalia, overturning prior research that has suggested otherwise. In their paper published in The Royal Society Biology Letters, Elisabeth Lipke, Jörg Hammel and Peter Michalik describe the various techniques they used to discover nerves in the arachnid palpal organ and their ideas on what purpose they serve.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-nerves-male-spider-genitalia.html#jCp

trio of researchers working in Germany has discovered that male spiders do indeed have nerves in their genitalia, overturning prior research that has suggested otherwise. In their paper published in The Royal Society Biology Letters, Elisabeth Lipke, Jörg Hammel and Peter Michalik describe the various techniques they used to discover nerves in the arachnid palpal organ and their ideas on what purpose they serve.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-nerves-male-spider-genitalia.html#jCp

trio of researchers working in Germany has discovered that male spiders do indeed have nerves in their genitalia, overturning prior research that has suggested otherwise. In their paper published in The Royal Society Biology Letters, Elisabeth Lipke, Jörg Hammel and Peter Michalik describe the various techniques they used to discover nerves in the arachnid palpal organ and their ideas on what purpose they serve.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-nerves-male-spider-genitalia.html#jCp