A fraught wolf spider courtship

  A pair of wolf spiders courting in the garden, with the male (in the foreground) frantically signalling his amorous intentions to her with his palps, moving closer a millimetre at a time. She is ultra-aggressive and lunges at him, so he dashes for safety. During a long, hot afternoon they repeat the performance many times, but I never witness a successful mating. But it happens, because .....

..... a few days later, here is a female wolf spider basking in the sunshine on a rock, carrying a silken cocoon of eggs under the tip of her abdomen.