A decrease in the surface area per unit volume is a well known constraint setting limits to the size of organisms at both the cellular and whole-organismal levels. Similar constraints may apply to social groups as they grow in size. The communal three-dimensional webs that social spiders build function ecologically as single units that intercept prey through their surface and should thus be sub...

Synthetic bio-molecular spiders with “legs” made of single-stranded segments of DNA can move on a surface covered by single-stranded segments of DNA called substrates when the substrate DNA is complementary to the leg DNA. If the motion of a spider does not affect the substrates, the spider behaves asymptotically as a random walk. We study the diffusion coefficient and the number of visited sit...

Most spiders are content to sit and wait for unsuspecting victims to blunder into their silken traps, but webs are only ever as good as the structures that secure them to the surfaces that support them. ‘This [attachment] is done with a special type of silk, called piriform’, says Jonas Wolff, from Macquarie University, Australia, adding that most spiders only produce this silk when they need t...

A molecular approach, using aphid-specific monoclonal antibodies, was used to test the hypothesis that alternative prey can affect predation on aphids by linyphiid spiders. These spiders locate their webs in cereal crops within microsites where prey density is high. Previous work demonstrated that of two subfamilies of Linyphiidae, one, the Linyphiinae, is web-dependent and makes its webs at si...

Synthetic biomolecular spiders with "legs" made of single-stranded segments of DNA can move on a surface covered by single-stranded segments of DNA called substrates when the substrate DNA is complementary to the leg DNA. If the motion of a spider does not affect the substrates, the spider behaves asymptotically as a random walk. We study the diffusion coefficient and the number of visited site...

I recorded diel and seasonal activity patterns and behavior of the brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa Gertsch & Mulaik 1940 in a free-ranging synanthropic population in northwestern Illinois. Recluse spiders are sit-and-wait predators that spend 85–90% of their nocturnal activity sitting motionless on a small network of silk they use for prey detection. Time not spent waiting for prey is ...

Sit-and-wait predators have evolved several traits that increase the probability of encountering prey, including lures that attract prey. Although most crab spiders (Thomisidae) are known by their ability to change colour in order to match the background, a few use a different strategy. They are UV-reflective, creating a colour contrast against UV-absorbing flowers that is attractive for pollin...