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opencc-by-4.0Jul 2017View details →

Peculiar torsion dynamical response of spider dragline silk

These data are related to our paper "Dabiao Liu, Longteng Yu, Yuming He*, Kai Peng, Jie Liu, Juan Guan, and D. J. Dunstan. Peculiar Torsion Dynamical Response of Spider Dragline Silk. Applied Physics Letters, 111 (2017), 013701." In this work, the torsional properties of spider dragline silks from Nephila edulis and Nephila pilipes spiders are investigated by using a torsion pendulum technique. A permanent torsional deformation is observed after even small torsional strain. This behaviour is quite different from that of the other materials tested here, i.e., carbon fiber, thin metallic wires, Kevlar fiber, and human hair. The spider dragline thus displays a strong energy dissipation upon the initial excitation (around 75% for small strains and more for a larger strain), which correspondingly reduces the amplitude of subsequent oscillations around the new equilibrium position. The variation of torsional stiffness in relaxation dynamics of spider draglines for different excitations is also determined. The experimental result is interpreted in the light of the hierarchical structure of dragline silk. This project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 704292.

Fig. 9 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Fig. 9. Schematic drawing showing the attaching behavior of the prithine Misionella mendensis once the cribellar segment is combed, splitting both halves of the cribellar thread, and the disposition of the sticky silk and the foundation line. (Left, drawn from photography [from fig. 7]; right, composed from fig. 8.)

Figs. 17–18 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 17–18. Misionella mendensis (Misiones, Argentina) web's general appearance. 17. Note the radial disposition of the foundation lines toward the retreat, and the transversal cribellar threads. 18. Detail of web. Note the old lines under the new ones.

Figs. 10–11 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 10–11. Cribellar silk in Pikelinia tambilloi from Santiago del Estero, Argentina, on a Petri dish. 10. Detail of foundation line elevated from the substratum and used as a guide. Note the foundation line, the cribellar thread, and the point of split in it. 11. Same, detail on the attachment point of the cribellar thread below the plane of the foundation line.

Figs. 3–6. Filistatid cribellum and cribellar spigots. 3–4 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 3–6. Filistatid cribellum and cribellar spigots. 3–4. Misionella mendensis, early spiderling, third dispersing stage, from Misiones, Argentina (SEM preparation MJR-00055). 3. Cribellum. 4. Cribellar spigots. 5–6. Pritha nana, female from Bolzano, Italy (SEM preparation MJR-00805). 5. Cribellum. 6. Cribellar spigots.

Fig. 29 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Fig. 29. Evolution of the different types of attachment of double-stranded sticky lines optimized on the cladogram of generic relationships within Filistatidae, according to Ramírez and Grismado (1997) and our analysis. Note the ambiguous optimization on the Prithinae node.

Figs. 1–2 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 1–2. The two different types of combing behavior as defined by Eberhard (1988). 1. Type I combing behavior: the combing leg IV rests on the immobile supporting leg III, and only leg IV moves. Misionella mendensis (Filistatidae) from Misiones, Argentina. 2. Type II combing behavior: the combing leg IV holds on the contralateral supporting leg IV, and both legs move together as an almost rigid unit. Austrochilus forsteri Grismado, Lopardo and Platnick (Austrochilidae) from M. N. Contulmo, Chile.

Fig. 16 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Fig. 16. Cribellar silk in Pikelinia tambilloi from Santiago del Estero, Argentina, on a Petri dish. Note the structural units of split cribellar threads.

Figs. 12–15 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 12–15. Structure of a cribellar thread in Misionella mendensis (SEM preparation LL-G). 12. Detail of two structural units of sticky segments from a web sample. Note the foundation line, the cribellar thread, and the point of split in it. 13. Same, detail on the attachment point of the cribellar thread with legs IV. 14. Same, detail of the point of split in the cribellar double-stranded thread. 15. Detail of the split supporting lines.

Figs. 25–28 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 25–28. Kukulcania hibernalis (Buenos Aires, Argentina), webs on houses. 25. Web of adult, general appearance. 26. Same, detail on the edge of the web. 27–28. Webs of juveniles on a wooden wall. Note the radial lines with cribellar thread on their edges.

Figs. 21–24 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 21–24. Filistata insidiatrix (Siena, Italy), webs on a brick wall. 21–22: Webs of adults. Note the mesh of overlapped threads. 23–24: Webs of juveniles. Note the radial lines with cribellar thread on their edges.

Figs. 19–20. Filistatid spiders. 19 in The Combing of Cribellar Silk by the Prithine Misionella mendensis, with Notes on Other Filistatid Spiders (Araneae: Filistatidae)

Figs. 19–20. Filistatid spiders. 19. Pritha nana, female from Bolzano, Italy. 20. Kukulcania hibernalis, male from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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Data from: Spider venom potency exhibits phylogenetic prey-specificity but does not trade-off with body size or silk use in prey capture

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Rapid mid-jump production of high-performance silk by jumping spiders

Jumping spiders (Salticidae) do not rely on webs to capture their prey, but they do spin a silk dragline behind them as they move through their habitat. They also spin this dragline during jumps, continuously connecting them with the surface they leapt from. Since spiders cannot spin silk in advance, this silk must be spun at the same speed as the spider jumps—in effect, requiring spin speeds over ten times faster than typical. And while many spiders can move rapidly (e.g. running or rappelling), previous research on silk has found that silk spinning rates in excess of walking and web-building speeds (~2-20mm/s) result in lower quality silk and even dragline failure. Here we found that despite being spun at high speeds (~500-700mm/s; 100-140 body lengths/s), jump-spun salticid silk showed consistent, uniform structure as well as the high-performance qualities characteristic of silk spun by other spiders, including orb-weaving species, at low speeds. Toughness of this jump-spun silk (mean = 281.9MJ/m3) even surpassed reported values for all but the toughest orb-web draglines. This provides the first evidence that salticids are capable of spinning high-performance silk and are able to do so extremely rapidly under natural conditions.

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

opencc-by-nd-4.0Dec 2019View details →

Figure 5. Female Neobrettus tibialis with their broods. 1, Female tending recently deposited eggs covered with flecked silk. 2, Female with emergent instar 1 spiderlings, showing little pigmentation. 3, Female tending instar 1 spiderlings with more eye pigmentation. 4-5, Females with older instar 1 spiderlings. 6-7, Females with mixed instar 1 and 2 in New observations of the jumping spider Neobrettus tibialis (Araneae: Salticidae: Spartaeini) in West Bengal, India

Figure 5. Female Neobrettus tibialis with their broods. 1, Female tending recently deposited eggs covered with flecked silk. 2, Female with emergent instar 1 spiderlings, showing little pigmentation. 3, Female tending instar 1 spiderlings with more eye pigmentation. 4-5, Females with older instar 1 spiderlings. 6-7, Females with mixed instar 1 and 2 spiderlings.

openother-openAug 2019View details →

Data and code for: Evolution of aerial spider webs coincided with repeated structural optimization of silk anchorages

Data and Code for the article: Evolution of aerial spider webs coincided with repeated structural optimization of silk anchorages    Jonas O. Wolff, Gustavo B. Paterno, Daniele Liprandi, Martín J. Ramírez, Federico Bosia, Arie van der Meijden, Peter Michalik, Helen M. Smith, Braxton R. Jones, Alexandra M. Ravelo, Nicola Pugno and Marie E. Herberstein    Journal: Evolution   DOI:  <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13834">https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13834</a>   Github repository: https://github.com/paternogbc/Wolff_et_al_Evolution_aerial_spider_webs When using the data available in this repository, please cite the original publication.   Contact jonas.wolff@mq.edu.au for any further information.   Wolff, J. O., Paterno, G. B., Liprandi, D. , Ramírez, M. J., Bosia, F. , der Meijden, A. , Michalik, P. , Smith, H. M., Jones, B. R., Ravelo, A. M., Pugno, N. and Herberstein, M. E. (2019), Evolution of aerial spider webs coincided with repeated structural optimization of silk anchorages. Evolution. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/evo.13834

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Silk-borne chemicals of spider nuptial gifts elicit female gift acceptance

Chemical communication is important in a reproductive context by conveying information used for mate recognition and/or assessment during courtship and mating. Spider silk is common as vehicle for chemical communication between the sexes. However, despite being well described in females, male silk-borne chemicals remain largely unexplored. Males of the spider Pisaura mirabilis silk-wrap prey (i.e. nuptial gifts) that is offered to females during courtship and eaten by the female during copulation. Interestingly, rejected males often add more silk to their gift which leads to mate acceptance, suggesting presence of silk-borne chemicals that facilitate female gift acceptance. To test this hypothesis, we offered females standardised gifts covered with male silk that was either washed in solvents or unwashed, respectively to remove or not any chemically active components. We scored female gift acceptance, and as expected in the case chemicals that mediate female mating behaviour are present in male silk, females were more likely to accept gifts covered with unwashed silk. Our findings suggest that silk-borne chemicals of nuptial gifts prime female responses, potentially signalling male quality or manipulating females into mating beyond their interests given the occurrence of male cheating behaviour via nutritionally worthless gifts in this system.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

opencc-by-nd-4.0Nov 2022View details →

Figure 6. Silk shelters. a, P. basalis exuvium within a in Natural history of the agave jumping spider, Paraphidippus basalis (Araneae: Salticidae: Dendryphantina)

Figure 6. Silk shelters. a, P. basalis exuvium within a tube shelter that is oriented along the length of a sotol leaf. b, Tube shelter perpendicular to the leaves of an agave. c-d, Tube shelter under a flat sheet of silk stretched between the edges of a yucca leaf. e, The same type of silk shelter as in (c-d), occupied during daytime by a Curicaberis spider. f, Young instar of P. basalis in a mountain yucca, hanging from the end of a dragline at night.