1971] 
Kovner — Wolf Spiders 
I5i 
Fig. 1. Male and female Lycosa rabid a in copula. The male is above, 
facing the camera, and has just initiated a pseudo-insertion with his left 
palp. 
After about half of the palpal insertions, male L. rabida moisten 
the palp just used by drawing it between the chelicerae. In such 
cases, they then usually moisten the opposite palp. Although a bout 
of palpal moistening often involves a rapid alternation of the palps, 
it always is initiated in the palp which has just been used in an at- 
tempted or completed insertion (Rovner, in press). In about half 
of the insertion sequences the male, rather than moisten the palps, 
either remains inactive for several seconds or immediately crosses 
over to the female’s opposite side. 
Whether or not palpal moistening occurs, male L. rabida then 
shift over to the female’s opposite side; i.e., palpal alternation is the 
insertion pattern in this species (Montgomery, 1903). While moving 
from one side to the other, the male usually taps his palps against 
the anterior dorsal surface of the female’s abdomen. At this time 
the female performs the only behavior shown by her during most of 
the copulation — abdominal swiveling. Her abdomen rotates about 
its longitudinal axis during each crossing by the male, thereby bring- 
ing the epigynum within reach of the male’s palp. 
The above palpal insertion sequence, which is repeated an average 
of about sixty times by each palp during copulation in L. rabida , is 
