by GforGraham
From Gizmodo.com:
Sexual cannibalism among praying mantises is well documented, but scientists have debated the reasons for it. A new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that females who eat their male partners after sex produce more eggs than those who don’t. What’s more, by eating the male, the widowed female ensures that her man is still providing for their offspring, even though he’s dead.
William Brown, a scientist at State University of New York at Fredonia and co-author of the new study, put it well: “Sexual cannibalism thus increases male investment in offspring.”
Loving Wives indeed.
Was that both adults died during the fertile mating. The oral liquids from the female contained a toxic hormone only when fertile and orgasming. This made the male fertile as well. He could take a little of this inseminate and leave without lasting damage. If he took in too much his nervous system shutdown then his body. It was a painless death, just slipping away into sleep like manner. Regardless of the male and if fertilisation is successful, the female dies. Babies surviving larva stage are less likely if only one parent. The twin shells protect from predators, not mentioned at all. Their hard shells encased their soft bodies and fronts. It is this that the larvae fed on until emerging to spin a cocoon.
Just the cycle of life for these beings when in love and at the end of the females lifespan.