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Spiders

Argentina Tshokwane Offline
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#12

Credits to The Silk Road and Mary Holland.

Spider silk is manufactured within glands inside the spider’s abdomen. Amazingly, a wide variety of silk is made, each type having its own particular use. Strong, elastic silk is used to build the foundation of a web. Sticky threads are produced to trap prey. Soft, fluffy silk cushions the eggs while a tough, papery silk envelopes the exterior of the egg sac. Each kind of silk is extruded in liquid form through tiny “nozzles” collectively located in organs called “spinnerets.” These are conical or finger-like appendages visible at the back side of the spider’s abdomen. Most spiders have at least two pairs of spinnerets, with each spinneret containing many, many silk-producing “spigots.” As the spider brushes the liquid silk from the spinnerets, the silk proteins are oriented in a fashion that renders them a solid fiber. Many spiders have special “combs” on their legs that help them spin out the silk strands.

Argiope aurantia

*This image is copyright of its original author

Spider Spinnerets

All spiders are capable of spinning silk, regardless of whether they use it to spin webs and trap prey or not.  Egg sacs, drag lines (so they can find their way home), drop lines (to catch them if they fall) egg cases and transportation (young spiders disperse by “ballooning” as the wind catches their silk and carries them off) are some of the other functions silk plays in the life of a spider. Silk is extruded through nozzles called spinnerets located near the tip of the abdomen. Typically a spider has two or three pairs of spinnerets.  Each one is the exterior tip of an interior silk gland and has a valve which can control the thickness and the speed with which the silk is extruded.  The different glands produce different kinds of silk used for different purposes. The spinnerets work independently for some functions, and together for others.  In the photograph, the black and yellow argiope is turning her grasshopper prey around and around as she produces a sheet of silk in which she wraps it.  Most, if not all, of the spinnerets are in use.

*This image is copyright of its original author

All spiders spin silk — some use it to build webs, eggs sacs, draglines, wrap prey and/or disperse in the air. Inside their bodies are glands which produce different types of silk material for different purposes.  Liquified silk proteins are pushed out spinnerets, or silk-spinning organs, located at the tip of a spider’s abdomen (most spiders have six). Once the silk solution comes in contact with the air, it solidifies.  Each spinneret has a spigot, or nozzle, which controls the consistency of the silk by forming smaller or larger strands. By winding different silk varieties together in varying proportions, spiders can form a wide range of fiber material.   Spider silk is extremely strong and flexible. Some varieties are five times as strong as an equal mass of steel and twice as strong as an equal mass of Kevlar.

*This image is copyright of its original author
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Messages In This Thread
Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-15-2016, 06:45 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-15-2016, 07:05 AM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 12-16-2016, 06:37 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 01-01-2017, 11:06 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:34 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:37 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:38 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:41 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:44 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:47 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:53 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 07:59 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 08:02 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 08:03 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 08:06 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-01-2017, 08:08 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-05-2017, 04:47 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-08-2017, 03:53 AM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 02-12-2017, 10:53 PM
RE: Spiders - Paleosuchus - 02-13-2017, 04:15 AM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 02-20-2017, 07:16 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-25-2017, 08:54 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 02-25-2017, 08:57 PM
RE: Spiders - Spalea - 02-26-2017, 01:41 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-01-2017, 09:22 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-01-2017, 09:24 PM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 03-01-2017, 09:54 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-06-2017, 08:50 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-10-2017, 06:47 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-11-2017, 08:40 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-11-2017, 11:42 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-14-2017, 08:38 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-19-2017, 08:58 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-26-2017, 08:46 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 03-31-2017, 06:45 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 04-01-2017, 08:39 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 04-09-2017, 05:08 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 07-07-2017, 05:56 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 07-15-2017, 08:05 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 07-18-2017, 05:48 AM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 07-18-2017, 01:43 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 08-12-2017, 07:10 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 09-17-2017, 12:34 AM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 09-23-2017, 12:11 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-15-2017, 09:22 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-15-2017, 09:25 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-21-2017, 07:31 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-21-2017, 07:46 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-21-2017, 09:25 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-21-2017, 09:35 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-21-2017, 09:39 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-22-2017, 04:33 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-25-2017, 07:27 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-08-2017, 06:25 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-26-2017, 09:47 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-06-2017, 08:40 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-17-2017, 11:53 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-18-2017, 12:00 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-18-2017, 08:52 PM
RE: Spiders - Spalea - 12-19-2017, 12:53 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-29-2017, 05:16 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-30-2017, 07:48 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 01-05-2018, 05:17 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 04-28-2018, 08:52 PM
RE: Spiders - Ngala - 05-15-2018, 04:51 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 09-12-2018, 05:54 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-19-2018, 04:13 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-24-2018, 05:56 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 10-24-2018, 08:38 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-02-2018, 06:11 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-02-2018, 06:22 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-02-2018, 06:24 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-02-2018, 06:30 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-02-2018, 09:00 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-02-2018, 09:02 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-10-2018, 10:40 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-25-2018, 08:16 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-25-2018, 08:17 AM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-26-2018, 06:12 AM
RE: Spiders - Spalea - 11-26-2018, 01:00 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-26-2018, 04:19 PM
RE: Spiders - Spalea - 11-26-2018, 07:00 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 11-26-2018, 07:58 PM
RE: Spiders - Tshokwane - 12-02-2018, 06:43 AM
RE: Spiders - scilover - 07-29-2020, 09:17 AM
RE: Spiders - scilover - 08-06-2020, 04:44 PM
RE: Spiders - Spalea - 08-10-2020, 01:26 AM
RE: Spiders - TheHyenid76 - 12-14-2023, 10:33 PM



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