Do Spinybacked orbweavers adapt their webs to the wind?

Nature Talk
1

I live in Florida and in summer we can have strong winds. Has anyone studied how Spinybacked orbweavers adapt their webs to different conditions, for example strong winds? When it’s windy I noticed the number of attachments to the surrounding leaves increases or the web is reduced to a single thread to which they frantically secure all their preys. As soon as the wind is gone they quickly rebuild it.

I also wonder if they produce only one kind of silk. I recently came across a nest. The wind lifted the top part and I noticed that it had a cotton like part where the eggs presumably are and a top cover made of hardened silk presumably for protection. Different silk types or same silk woven differently?

2

Good question! I moved this to Nature Talk, however, since it’s not directly related to iNat.

3

Interesting question. Cape Town has howling Southeasters in summer. Now we have a mid-winter warning for small boats – strong wind, and very high and low spring tides. Some of our spiders make huge webs … and then the hikers trample thru them, but we try to go around …

4

Spiders do produce different kinds of silk for different purposes. They do have a variety of different silk glands, the size and functionality of which might differ between species.

For example, the silk they use for wrapping prey is different to the silk the use for coating their egg sacs or web construction. The web itself even consist of 3 different kinds of silk (dragline/web frame is different from the sticky capture spiral, which is produced involving two kinds of glands and then there is a non-sticky auxiliary spiral spider use during web production and to move around, which is different as well) and is attached to the substrate by a 4th kind of silk. The structure of the silk can also be influenced by the speed with which it is dragged out of the glands.

There are some spiders that even produce yet another kind of silk, which is not sticky due to “glue drops”, but because it is very fine and loopy ( e.g. Eresidae and Uloboridae).

Many spiders will absolutely adapt their web construction to given circumstances such as wind. In windy conditions they might produce smaller webs (e.g. Araneus diadematus anf Cyclosa) oder try to orient it in a way to minimize interaction of the web surface with the wind.