Silk & Spinning

Silk & Spinning Articles

Kinematic diagram of spinning behavior. The more complex spinning is by Antipaluria urichi, with spin steps shown on one side as including more positions than those seen expressed by Pararhagadochir trinitatis. For that species, they spin almost completely around the front of their bodies.

Kinematic diagram of spin-steps for two species. Antipaluria displays the more complex spinning.

Spin-steps as if on violin strings reveals patterns in spinning.

Two individuals spin with some stereotypy and some individuality. (performance by Byron Fan)

Water placed on silk dries slowly and transforms the silk into a film. (no sound)

A. Camouflaged silk in Ecuador, B. Silk hidden in vines in Trinidad, C. Wispy silk of a Mexican species, D. Expansive galleries in Queensland and closeup of the galleries.

Graphical abstract of a paper examining how silk acts as a raincoat. Tropical silks are more resistant to water, while silks from dry regions are not so.

Nature's raincoat

Richard P Barber, et al. (2025) Exploring dynamics of nature’s raincoat: comparing how nano-scale silk fibers produced by dryland and tropical species of webspinning insects interact with water, Environmental Entomology, nvaf071, https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvaf071

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