The reseаrchers rаn аn experiment with the fоllоwing methоds and data to test the hypothesis that male redback spiders willing allow themselves to be eaten by their female mate in order to provide more nutrition to the female that she can pass along to eggs. Method: A male and an unmated female were put into an empty 4x4 plastic container for 30 minutes. Researchers recorded whether the male and female mated and whether the male was eaten. Females were then maintained in standard conditions until laying their eggs. Egg sacs were then weighed and the number of eggs per sac was counted. Male was eaten Male was NOT eaten N Median N Median P value Egg sac mass (mg) 9 198 13 179 0.082 Number of eggs per sac 9 256 13 249 0.526