Seems like a metaphor for something...
More well known is the macabre cannibalism of female praying mantises.
Mantises are large carnivorous insects. They normally eat smaller insects
such as flies, but they will attack almost anything that moves. When they
mate, the male cautiously creeps up on the female, mounts her, and
copulates. If the female gets the chance, she will eat him, beginning by
biting his head off, either as the male is approaching, or immediately
after he mounts, or after they separate. It might seem most sensible for
her to wait until copulation is over before she starts to eat him. But the
loss of the head does not seem to throw the rest of the male's body off
its sexual stride. Indeed, since the insect head is the seat of some
inhibitory nerve centers, it is possible that the female improves the
male's sexual performance by eating his head. If so, this is an added
benefit. The primary one is that she obtains a good meal.
Stephen Dawkins, The Selfish Gene