Change of mechanical characteristics in spider silk capture threads after contact with prey

Baumgart, Lucas; Schaa, Eva-Marie; Menzel, Florian; Joel, Anna-Christin

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2022.09.056

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The species U. walckenaerius differs from other spiders; their webs contain trap wool or cribellate fibers instead of adhesive droplets [26,27]. These spiders catch their prey by trapping them in these fibers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Web Structure and Silk Spinning Apparatus Morphology of <i>Uloborus walckenaerius</i> Latreille 1806 (Araneae, Uloboridae) Spider

Çorak Öcal,

Yiğit Kayhan,

Aktaş

2024

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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The web-building skills of spiders made them strong from the evolutionary aspect. Spider webs are used in hunting, building nests, setting traps, and movement. The structure of web architecture, that of adhesive materials being produced, and that of cribellate offer important clues in order to understand their hunting behaviors. Spiders have different silk-spinning apparatuses, allowing them to produce different types of silk fibrils. While some spider species rely on webs for survival in nature, others can survive without them. Even though basic taxonomic features remain constant, the silk-spinning apparatuses of spiders might be subjected to adaptive variations. In the present study, the structural organization of the silk-spinning apparatus and the web architecture of the web-maker spider Uloborus walckenaerius Latreille, 1806 were observed by making use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The web structure of U. walckenaerius, the characteristics of the spinnerets, especially the posterior spinneret, and the arrangement of the spigots are reported in this study. Adaptations of the silk-spinning apparatus, which has provided an evolutionary success to U. walckenaerius, were also analyzed. It was determined that the web structure consisted of very fine nanofibers and, differing from other groups, there also were crimped silk fibrils.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Web Structure and Silk Spinning Apparatus Morphology of <i>Uloborus walckenaerius</i> Latreille 1806 (Araneae, Uloboridae) Spider

Çorak Öcal,

Yiğit Kayhan,

Aktaş

2024

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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“…It has been shown that some hair and scale-like surface features of the prey's cuticle highly reduce the stickiness of cribellar silk [ 49 ]. In addition, cribellar silk has been shown to interact with wax coatings on insect cuticles to form an adhesive bond [ 50 ], which simultaneously stiffens the threads, which may inadvertently help active prey to break free [ 51 ]. High sprint speed is advantageous in such situations in which the web's capacity to immobilize the prey is compromised, as the spider has to move fast to prevent the quick escape of the prey for successful prey capture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic evolution of locomotor performance independent of changes in extended phenotype use in spiders

Kelly,

Khan,

Wierucka

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Many animals use self-built structures (extended phenotypes) to enhance body functions, such as thermoregulation, prey capture or defence. Yet, it is unclear whether the evolution of animal constructions supplements or substitutes body functions—with disparate feedbacks on trait evolution. Here, using brown spiders (Araneae: marronoid clade), we explored if the evolutionary loss and gain of silken webs as extended prey capture devices correlates with alterations in traits known to play an important role in predatory strikes—locomotor performance (sprint speed) and leg spination (expression of capture spines on front legs). We found that in this group high locomotor performance, with running speeds of over 100 body lengths per second, evolved repeatedly—both in web-building and cursorial spiders. There was no correlation with running speed, and leg spination only poorly correlated, relative to the use of extended phenotypes, indicating that web use does not reduce selective pressures on body functions involved in prey capture and defence per se . Consequently, extended prey capture devices serve as supplements rather than substitutions to body traits and may only be beneficial in conjunction with certain life-history traits, possibly explaining the rare evolution and repeated loss of trapping strategies in predatory animals.

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“…Exposure to sunlight could especially lead to the denaturation of the proteins and thus affect adhesion properties [45]. Moreover, threads that have already come into contact with prey exhibit irreversibly altered mechanical properties and therefore cannot be used a second time [21]. All these factors could explain the renewal behaviour observed in Uloboridae, and future studies should investigate the influence of such destruction on the adhesive properties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, as the main adhesive mechanism, these fibres interact with the surface waxes (cuticular hydrocarbons) of insects, drawing them into the thread. The mechanical properties are thus affected, which further reinforces the adhesion [8,20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Age-Resilient Stickiness of Capture Threads

Meyer

Joel

2023

Arthropoda

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Typical orb webs with glue droplets are renewed regularly, sometimes multiple times per night. Such behaviour, however, is rarely found with cribellate spiders. The adhesive portion of their capture threads consist of nanofibres instead of glue, and the fibres interact with the cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) of their insect prey for adhesion. Many of these spiders often only add new threads to their existing webs instead of completely reconstructing them. In testing the adhesion force of aged capture threads of three different cribellate species, we indeed did not observe an overall decline in adhesion force, even after a period of over a year. This is in line with the (formulated but so far never tested) hypothesis that when comparing gluey capture threads to nanofibrous ones, one of the benefits of cribellate capture threads could be their notable resistance to drying out or other ageing processes.

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Change of mechanical characteristics in spider silk capture threads after contact with prey

Cited by 4 publications

References 47 publications

Web Structure and Silk Spinning Apparatus Morphology of <i>Uloborus walckenaerius</i> Latreille 1806 (Araneae, Uloboridae) Spider

Web Structure and Silk Spinning Apparatus Morphology of <i>Uloborus walckenaerius</i> Latreille 1806 (Araneae, Uloboridae) Spider

Dynamic evolution of locomotor performance independent of changes in extended phenotype use in spiders

Age-Resilient Stickiness of Capture Threads

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