Analysing Spider Web-building Behaviour with Rule-based Simulations and Genetic Algorithms

1997 ◽  
Vol 185 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiemo Krink ◽  
Fritz Vollrath
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithms ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Spider Web ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Web Building

scholarly journals Dynamic environments do not appear to constrain spider web building behaviour

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Mulder ◽  
Lucas Wilkins ◽  
Beth Mortimer ◽  
Fritz Vollrath
Keyword(s):  
Wind Loading ◽  
Spider Webs ◽  
Spider Web ◽  
Thread Tension ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Araneus Diadematus ◽  
Orb Web Spiders ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Web Building

AbstractMany laboratory experiments demonstrate how orb-web spiders change the architecture of their webs in response to prey, surroundings and wind loading. The overall shape of the web and a range of other web parameters are determined by frame and anchor threads. In the wild, unlike the lab, the anchor threads are attached to branches and leaves that are not stationary but move, which affects the thread tension field. Here we experimentally test the effect of a moving support structure on the construction behaviour and web-parameters of the garden cross spider Araneus diadematus. We found no significant differences in building behaviour between rigid and moving anchors in total time spent and total distance covered nor in the percentage of the total time spent and distance covered to build the three major web components: radials, auxiliary and capture spirals. Moreover, measured key parameters of web-geometry were equally unaffected. These results call for re-evaluation of common understanding of spider webs as thread tensions are often considered to be a major factor guiding the spider during construction and web-operation.

scholarly journals Distinct movement patterns generate stages of spider web building

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Corver ◽  
Nicholas Wilkerson ◽  
Jeremiah Miller ◽  
Andrew Gordus
Keyword(s):  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Spider Web ◽  
Web Building

scholarly journals Adhesion enhancement of cribellate capture threads by epicuticular waxes of the insect prey sheds new light on spider web evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1855) ◽  
pp. 20170363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raya A. Bott ◽  
Werner Baumgartner ◽  
Peter Bräunig ◽  
Florian Menzel ◽  
Anna-Christin Joel
Keyword(s):  
Adhesive Force ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Epicuticular Waxes ◽  
Cuticular Waxes ◽  
Free Surfaces ◽  
Spider Web ◽  
Insect Prey ◽  
Reinforced Composite ◽  
Artificial Surfaces ◽  
Web Building

To survive, web-building spiders rely on their capture threads to restrain prey. Many species use special adhesives for this task, and again the majority of those species cover their threads with viscoelastic glue droplets. Cribellate spiders, by contrast, use a wool of nanofibres as adhesive. Previous studies hypothesized that prey is restrained by van der Waals' forces and entrapment in the nanofibres. A large discrepancy when comparing the adhesive force on artificial surfaces versus prey implied that the real mechanism was still elusive. We observed that insect prey's epicuticular waxes infiltrate the wool of nanofibres, probably induced by capillary forces. The fibre-reinforced composite thus formed led to an adhesion between prey and thread eight times stronger than that between thread and wax-free surfaces. Thus, cribellate spiders employ the originally protective coating of their insect prey as a fatal component of their adhesive and the insect promotes its own capture. We suggest an evolutionary arms race with prey changing the properties of their cuticular waxes to escape the cribellate capture threads that eventually favoured spider threads with viscous glue.

A preliminary molecular phylogeny for New Zealand sheet-web spiders (Cambridgea) and comparison of web-building behaviour

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-205
Author(s):  
Leilani A. Walker ◽  
Cor J. Vink ◽  
Gregory I. Holwell ◽  
Thomas R. Buckley
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Molecular Phylogeny ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Web Building
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