How to translate text using browser tools
1 April 2002 HOW SPIDER ANATOMY AND THREAD CONFIGURATION SHAPE THE STICKINESS OF CRIBELLAR PREY CAPTURE THREADS
Brent D. Opell
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Cribellar threads are primitive prey capture threads formed of thousands of fine, looped cribellar fibrils that surround larger, supporting fibers. Cribellar fibrils are produced from the spigots of an abdominal spinning field, the cribellum, which may be either a single, oval plate or a pair of medially divided plates. The number of spigots on a spider's cribellum is known to be directly related to the stickiness of its cribellar thread. Some spiders deposit cribellar threads in their webs as taut, self-supporting linear threads; others deposit looped threads along a supporting foundation thread. This study showed that the looped cribellar threads of Kukulcania hibernalis (Filistatidae) and Mexitlia trivittata (Dictynidae) were wider and stickier than linear threads produced by Waitkera waitakerensis and Uloborus glomosus (Uloboridae), respectively, that had the same numbers of cribellum spigots. Linear cribellar thread spun from the divided cribellum of K. hibernalis was both wider and stickier than linear thread spun from the undivided cribellum of W. waitakerensis that had the same number of spigots. A single cribellar plate of K. hibernalis and the cribellum of Siratoba referena (Uloboridae) had a similar number of spigots and produced cribellar threads with similar stickiness. Thus, both a spider's spinning anatomy and its spinning behavior affect the stickiness of its cribellar threads.

Brent D. Opell "HOW SPIDER ANATOMY AND THREAD CONFIGURATION SHAPE THE STICKINESS OF CRIBELLAR PREY CAPTURE THREADS," The Journal of Arachnology 30(1), 10-19, (1 April 2002). https://doi.org/10.1636/0161-8202(2002)030[0010:HSAATC]2.0.CO;2
Received: 25 February 2001; Published: 1 April 2002
KEYWORDS
Cribellum
spigot number
thread stickiness
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top