How would you like to find this critter under the
stairs on a dark night?
Puppet maker Bryony Anderson cleverly crafted her
'Salvage Spider' from discarded teddy bears, even using their innards to
handspin 205 metres of web 'silk' for this Garden Orb-weaver (Araneus
transmarinus). These non-venomous garden spiders take 1 hour to build a new web
every night, making about 100 in a lifetime and eating the old webs as they go.
As for the real protein silk, a spider’s glands
produce six different types, often more than two at a time, which can be
blended for at least seven different uses!...
dragline, web rim and spokes- scaffolding
- capture of prey
- egg cocoon
- wrapping prey or sperm distribution
- sticky globules
- web connections
The silk is produced from a panel of spinnerets
(spigots & spools) at the rear of the abdomen and drawn out by the hind
legs. (Some spiders then comb superfine silk into ‘hackled bands’ using the hairy
calamistrum on these legs. Adventurous youngsters even go ‘ballooning’ with
gossamer.)
In fact, 1 teaspoon of spider silk is sufficient
for 1 million webs!
Now here’s the clincher – a young spider is never
taught how to produce and use the strongest of natural fibres, while scientists
remain baffled how pulling this stuff hardens it to become stronger than steel!
Just by the way, can you see any design in a
spider making its web?
Acknowledgements:
Bryony Anderson, Densey Clyne et
al, Pappinbarra NSW
howstuffworks.com
wikipedia.org
B.Taylor,
J, Green, J.Farndon, Big Bug Book,
Hermes House, London 2010
Photo credit:
orb web / fleetpond.wordpress.com
I knew we had to look at spider webs sooner or later and what better spider to feature than Bryony's masterly creation hanging under the stairs in the Glasshouse entertainment centre in Port Macquarie CBD. I think you have until the end of January to submit your suggestion for a better name than 'Salvage Spider' - go for it! You'll find more details from 'The Express' newspaper published by Rural Press, Port Macquarie NSW.
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