Cannibal Spiders May Have Poor Impulse Control

Some female wolf spiders prioritize food over sex

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cannibal-spiders-may-have-poor-impulse-control/

In many spider species the females continuely decide to eat the males over mating with them. A new study shows that the females may be eating them rather then mating because of their personality. Females are choosy when deciding which male to mate with. They often hold out for large, healthy males and kill the others. Another theory is that the females have strong predatory instincts that turn into aggression towards males. The aggressive spiders might decide to eat the males when it would have been better for them to mate with them. The aggressive females killed big, healthy spiders just as often as they killed scrawny ones.
In a study with 80 female spiders, some female spiders put on weight faster than others. The female spiders that put on weight was the result of female voraciousness. The females that had a higher growth rate also were the most aggressive.
"Out results provide evidence that different female personalities can lead to different outcomes in the interactions between males and females in a sexual cannibal."

Voracious: Craving or consuming large quantities of food.

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