The material cost and stickiness of capture threads and the evolution of orb-weaving spiders |
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Authors: | Brent D Opell |
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Institution: | Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0406 U.S.A. |
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Abstract: | Prey capture threads are essential to the operation of spider orb-webs because they prevent insects that have been intercepted from escaping before a spider can subdue them. The volume of material invested in a web's capture threads is related to spider weight and is the same for primitive orb-weavers that produce cribellar capture thread and modern orb-weavers that produce adhesive capture thread. However, as adhesive capture thread achieves greater stickiness relative to its volume, adhesive orb-webs have a greater total stickiness and, consequently, a greater prey capture potential than cribellate orb-webs. These differences appear to have favoured the transition from cribellate to adhesive capture threads and the success of adhesive orb-weavers, which include 95% of all orb-weaving species. Differences in the thread economy and the total stickiness of webs constructed by spiders of different weights also suggest that adhesive orb-weavers should grow more rapidly and be capable of attaining a larger size than cribellate orb-weavers. |
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Keywords: | cribellar thread viscous thread Araneidae Uloboridae Tetragnathidae orb-web prey capture key innovation |
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