SpiderSunday – Science Everyday

Not a night-crawler

This spider has an enormous web, probably 30 – 40 cm in diameter. I’ve only seen the spider at night, hence the crummy photo. It’s probably in the orb weaving family, Araneidae. From Chris Mallory in another post:

RE: spider families: if your spider makes a big web like this, you know, the “charlotte’s web” type web, then it is an orbweaver, family Araneidae. Cobweb spiders and house spiders (as well as widows) belong to a different family, the Theridiidae. If you’ve seen webs from any of these things, you could see that the two webs are nothing alike. They aren’t called “cobweb spiders” for no reason. This fact alone could rule out the possibility of a house spider even if the spider wasn’t present. Back to Orbweavers, aka “garden spiders”: there is not just one single species, with “yellow and black striped with a very noticeable white zig zag strand in the middle of the web.” There are about 4000 species. Though they all make this kind of web more or less, almost none of them fit that discription.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107896084561441926092/posts/cptvFkYjJba

Because of my broken wrist, I won’t be as active on G+.

More spider science links for #ScienceSunday and #SpiderSunday

Open the Spigot for Science

http://goo.gl/SGMDI

ScienceShot: Spider Dies From Sex

http://goo.gl/DGyhYq

Open the Spigot for Science

#ScienceSunday would love to ensnare you in our web. I saw this electron microscope pic shared from Linda Hedrick and I remembered that there has been a lot of research to mimic spider web silk. The pictures below are the spigots of the spider where the silk is made/dispensed for making a web. The first is a false-color version from Visuals Unlimited (http://goo.gl/2Qgui).

From MicroAngela

These fingerlike spinnerets on spiders’ posterior abdomens (rear-ends) are used to extrude web silk. This silk is used to weave webs, snares, shelters, and/or egg sacs. Each species of spider has a distinctive web form. Spider silk is a fibrous protein that is secreted as a fluid and which, when stretched, forms a polymer that is stronger than steel! A spider can spin more than one kind of silk to customize its web. For example, the spider makes some parts of its web not sticky so that it can run across it and not get caught! Some spiders do not weave webs at all, but actively hunt for food.

A tidy, clean web indicates a spider is present. A dusty web (cobweb) usually means it is old and unused. Spiders are useful in keeping down pest insect populations. Have you made friends with a spider, lately?

This picture was taken by a fourth grade class visiting my lab. It is magnified about 1,500 times

http://www5.pbrc.hawaii.edu/microangela/spigot.htm

The same image can be found at How Stuff Works, with ton of info: http://goo.gl/d0Pr0

Some folks at Rochester detailed their SEM study on spider silk on this webpage:

http://goo.gl/2tp6z

Here’s a clever use of spider silk. Dip the silk in organic silicate, then bake it so that the silk burns away leaving a small, hollow fiber optic wire.

http://goo.gl/SM3Md

Finally, here’s artificial spider silk from bacteria

http://goo.gl/GrSh0

I leave you with No Doubt

No Doubt – Spiderwebs

You think that we connect

That the chemistry’s correct

Your words walk right through my ears

Presuming I like what I hear

And now I’m stuck in the web

You’re spinning

You’ve got me for your prey