@surefire-tanis’s tags: “is there just a whole world of cooler spiderwebs that most people dont know about? like there was that silkhenge thing the other day that was totally wild too [.] not that regular spider webs aren’t already pretty fucking cool”
the most widely recognized type of spider web is the orb web, which is an example of a capture web, i.e. a web for capturing prey. large, vertically oriented orb webs are built by members of the spider family Araneidae, commonly known as “orbweavers”. members of some other spider families also build orb webs. “Orbiculariae”, a proposed clade, groups all of them (see also Jonathan Coddington et al. 2019).
the more common types of spider webs are interesting, whether despite or related to their commonness. for example, the orb web originated 187–201 million years ago (Jason Bond et al. 2014)!
spiders comprise a diverse order of over 49,000 species known to science. there are other types of capture webs, which not all spiders use, and there are other types of webs and other silk structures besides capture webs that spiders build for other purposes. the silkhenge is an example of a web/silk structure built around eggs, typically to protect them until they hatch or until spiderlings are ready to disperse.
some of my favorite uncommon (among all spider taxa) spider webs/silk structures:
“inverted ladder web” by Scoloderus sp. (Araneidae), photographed by Paul Bertner. this modified orb web specializes in capturing moths (Mark Stowe 1978). a moth that strikes the upper part of the web doesn’t stick because the gluey silk only sticks to the moth’s scales, which detach from the moth, but as the moth tumbles down the web, it loses more and more scales until eventually the gluey silk sticks to the wing membrane and the moth becomes stuck.
“bowl and doily” web by Frontinella pyramitela (Linyphiidae), photographed by ophis. my video here.
cubic pink eggsacs by Theridiosomatidae, consistent with description of Chthonos, photographed by Luísa Mota.
“coneweb” by Diguetia catamarquensis (Diguetidae), photographed by pablisola. the coneweb of Diguetia species superficially resembles another uncommon web, the “tentweb” of Cyrtophora species (Araneidae). in this case what really interests me about the coneweb is that Diguetia and Cyrtophora are so distantly related: Diguetia is synspermiate and Cyrtophora is entelegynic.
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