Specificity of the Web

Abstract

There exist a number of observations which indicate that the pattern which an adult female Araneus diadematus Cl. spins is characteristic for the species. Comparison of webs of the closely related Araneus diadematus and Araneus sericatus (Figs. 1 and 8) shows a striking similarity in the patterns, while geometric webs of builders only remotely related construct patterns which look quite different. Efforts have been made to trace the history and relationship of species of spiders by means of web

resemblances under the assumption that a more “primitive”, simple, irregular web was the forerunner of the more elaborate patterns. For a number of reasons such deductions seem at present precipitous, and other approaches such as determining the chemical similarity of silk proteins (see previous chapter) appear to provide a more secure basis for construction of a family tree of web-builders.