Male redback spiders twist their abdomens onto the fangs of their mates during copulation and, if cannibalized (65% of matings), increase their paternity relative to males that are not cannibalized. The adaptive male sacrifice hypothesis proposes that this increased reproductive payoff from a...

Opponent asymmetries often determine the probability of winning a fight in agonistic situations. In many animal systems, the asymmetries that drive the dynamics and outcome of male--male contests are related to resource holding potential (RHP) or territory ownership. However, recent studies have...