Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Altered geometry of webs in spiders with regenerated legs

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

The form of a spider's web can be seen as a representation of inherited rules of behaviour, although the geometry of the orb web is not rigidly predetermined. Examining the web as a product of orientation processes is a novel and powerful tool for analysing the measuring functions and decision rules of the spider's web-building behaviour. The garden spider Araneus diadematus Clerk orients the main (capture) spiral of the web according to measurements taken by particular legs. This is apparent when a measuring leg has been regenerated, because the reduced length of the regenerate is reflected in the geometry of the capture spiral. The orientation of the auxiliary spiral (used for support during construction), on the other hand, is not affected and I conclude that the two spirals, both of which are present in each web, are constructed according to different behavioural rules.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. 1. Eberhard, W. G. Evolution 36, 1067–1095 (1982). 2. Vollrath, F. & Mohren, W. Naturwissenschaften 72, 666–667 (1985). 3. D'Arcy Thompson, W. On Growth and Form Vol. 2, (Cambridge University Press, 1942). 4. Vollrath, F. /. Comp. Physiol. A 152, 275–280 (1986). 5. Roth, V. D. & Roth B. M. Bull. Br. arachnol. Soc. 6, 137–146 (1984). 6. Peters, H. M. Z. Morph. Okol. Tiere 32, 613–649, 33, 128–150 (1937). 7. Vollrath, F. J. comp. Physiol. A (in the press). 8. Ruhland, M. thesis, Univ. Konstanz (1976). 9. Bonnet, P. thesis, Univ. Toulouse (1930). 10. Randall, J. B. Wilhelm Roux Arch. dev. Biol. 190, 230–232 (1981). 11. Goerner, P. & Claas, B. in Neurobiology of Arachnids (ed. Barth, F. G.) 275–297 (Springer, Berlin, 1985). 12. Mittelstaedt, H. in Neurobiology of Arachnids (ed. Barth, F. G.) 298–316 (Springer, Berlin, 1985). 13. Hill, D. E. Behavl. Ecol. Sociobiol. 5, 301–322 (1979). 14. Gould, J. L. in The Biology of Learning (eds Marler, P. & Terrace, H.) 149–180 (Springer, Berlin, 1984). 15. Wehner, R. in Neuroethology and Behavioural Physiology (eds Huber, F. & Markl, H.) 366–381 (Springer, Berlin, 1983). 16. Gould, J. L. Science 232, 861–863 (1986).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Fritz Vollrath

Authors
  1. Fritz Vollrath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vollrath, F. Altered geometry of webs in spiders with regenerated legs. Nature 328, 247–248 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/328247a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/328247a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation