#spidersilk — Public Fediverse posts

#SpiderSilk-making organs evolved due to a 400-million-year-old #genetic oops
#Spiders and silk go hand in hand, but spinnerets may exist thanks to an ancient error
A close look at the genetics and development of #spinnerets — spiders’ silk-making organs — reveals that an early arachnid doubled all of its DNA hundreds of millions of years ago. The findings suggest key, doubled genes were responsible for the #evolution of spinnerets.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/spider-silk-making-organ-evolve-genetic
https://archive.ph/LVsPW

#Arachtober 12: a small yellow sac spider (_Cheiracanthium_) perches on a fence post and releases a stream of silk strands that are separated and carried aloft by the breeze and (as we've learned in recent years) atmospheric static electricity. If the silk catches on something, the spider can use it to bridge a long gap. Smaller spiders can be borne aloft entirely and traverse long distances, a behaviour called ballooning.

#ArthroBeauty #SpiderSilk #SpiderBehaviour #spiders #Araneae #Cheiracanthiidae

Update: managed to get a look at the spider that made the wonky web. It's hard to see from these photos (didn't have my macro stuff on me), but it has only one leg on the right side!

That could account for its messy web, I think.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiderwebs #SpiderSilk • #Araneae #Araneidae

you ever see a spiderweb that makes you go "girl are you ok???"

(second photo is what the web's supposed to look like. A _Zygiella_ missing-sector orbweaver.)

obligatory "spiders on drugs" video, before you all send it to me: https://youtu.be/sHzdsFiBbFc
and the Travis McEnery video about how orb webs are made, including the backstory of the real "spiders on drugs" experiments: https://youtu.be/8U5KKdhXsgA

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #spiderwebs #SpiderSilk • #Araneae #Araneidae

Is #SpiderSilk the #Real World #Equivalent to #Mithril?

https://nemozone.writeas.com/is-spider-silk-the-real-world-equivalent-to-mithril