Tie them up tight: wrapping by Philoponella vicina spiders breaks, compresses and sometimes kills their prey

Abstract

We show that uloborid spiders, which lack the poison glands typical of nearly all other spiders, employ thousands of wrapping movements with their hind legs and up to hundreds of meters of silk line to make a shroud that applies substantial compressive force to their prey. Shrouds sometimes break the prey's legs, buckle its compound eyes inward, or kill it outright. The compressive force apparently results from the summation of small tensions on sticky lines as they are applied to the prey package. Behavioral details indicate that wrapping is designed to compact prey; in turn, compaction probably functions to facilitate these spiders' unusual method of feeding. This is the first demonstration that prey wrapping by spiders compacts and physically damages their prey, rather than simply restraining them.

The evolution of prey‐wrapping behaviour in spiders

“…l Lines checked under a dissecting microscope lacked sticky balls. The body of the fully wrapped prey was not compressed, as is typical in uloborids (Eberhard et al 2006 (Eberhard et al 2006). This stickiness is presumably not homologous with that of theridiids and nesticids.…”

“…From the beginning of each attack, legs IV moved in strict alternation and in coordination with side-to-side movements of the abdomen. Lines of wrapping silk were somewhat adhesive, but were smooth, without any sign of any additional viscous material when observed under the scanning electron microscope (Eberhard et al 2006).…”

“…Philoponella vicina (Uloboridae). The wrapping behaviour of P. vicina is described in detail elsewhere (Eberhard et al 2006;Weng et al forthcoming). From the beginning of each attack, legs IV moved in strict alternation and in coordination with side-to-side movements of the abdomen.…”

Exploring the antimicrobial potential of Pardosa brevivulva silk

“…Spiders have the ability to preserve its extra food for months and even years by folding it in silk fibers (Tahir, Khanum, Zaheer, & Samiullah, 2017). This stored food is safe from attack of fungus or other microbes (Eberhard, Barrantes, & Weng, 2006). The spider silk is used in prey wrapping and this silk being antimicrobial would benefit the spider as the prey would be less likely to contain microbes (Wright & Goodacre, 2012).…”

Esculent coating of spider silk enhanced the preservation and shelf life of apricot

“…Silk protein coating actually reduces the fruit's cell respiration rate by balancing the natural flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide and by reducing the rate of water transpiration in fruit, thus intrinsically slowing the decomposition process (Marelli et al, 2016). Spiders store their extra food in their silk which is preserved for months and even years without being attacked by fungus or bacteria (Eberhard et al, 2006). This preservation property of spider silk is due to the presence of antimicrobial compounds that resides within the spider silk (Roozbahani et al, 2014).…”