Spider woman's scent proves irresistible.

• Position: Mating Season - Brief article

Male wasp spiders normally live alone until mating season when they go in search of a partner. To help them along, females exude a chemical lure, a pheromone that has an irresistible scent to the males. A team led by Gabriel Uhl (University of Bonn/Greifswaid) and Stefan Schulz (TU Brunswick) has identified this pheromone and synthesized it in the laboratory. As the scientists report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, they were able to use this synthetic substance to attract spiders in the field with a pheromone for the first time.

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Female wasp spiders (Argiope bruennichi) have striking markings reminiscent of a wasp. The spiders prefer to live in the fields of the Mediterranean region, but have begun to spread into Central Europe as well. Their prey consists primarily of grasshoppers. Adult females build nets in the grass and lure the much smaller males, who are searching for...