Jill's Pick from Around the World: New species spins the world's strongest and largest spider web


A, several C. darwini webs over river in Ranomafana. Individual web area (the extent of the sticky spiral) was about 0.5–1 m2, the longest bridgelines exceeded 10 m. B, a web across a small stream in Andasibe-Mantadia NP illustrating architecture.
Photo credit: wildmadagascar.org

From wildmadagascar.org: A newly discovered species of spider in Madagascar spins the world's longest web, report scientists writing in PLoS ONE. Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini), a type of orb spider, weaves webs that span rivers and lakes to capture up to 30 insects at a time. One web reached 82 feet (25 meters) in length, giving the species the title of the world's largest web spinner. The length of the webs allow the Darwin's bark spider to capture insects in a niche otherwise unexploited by spiders.

The silk of the species is also the strongest ever encountered. Ingi Agnarsson, the director of the Museum of Zoology at the University of Puerto Rico and lead author of the research, says the web is twice as resilient as the next strongest silk and 10 times tougher than the material used in bulletproof vests.
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Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 9/29/2010 6:00 AM
Categories: Jill's Pick from Around the World
Tags: darwin's bark spider orb spider spider web spider
 

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