Orbweb spider courtship

Lord Vetinari

Orbweb spider courtship . The male drops a line onto the side of the females web and then approaches carefully whilst doing a lot of web twanging. The female hurries over to the edge of the web and also starts twanging the web. The male retreats several times back up his line and starts over again. Eventually the spider do touch with the male looking like he's trying to tickle the female. Again he retreats several times before starting again. Not sure if it's significant but the female now has her epigyne raised. This was 20 minutes after the start and I started getting creeping numbness from kneeling on the ground. Never did see the consummation but the male did survive. First time I've seen this last more than a few minutes.
Brian v.

Female


Male

First tentative approach


Little slap and tickle


More tickling


Female receptive ?