Abstract
We demonstrate the impressive adhesive qualities of uloborid spider orb-web capture when dry, which are lost when the nano-filament threads are wetted. A force sensor with a 50 nN–1 mN detection sensitively allowed us to measure quantitatively the stress–strain characteristics of native silk threads in both the original dry state and after wetting by controlled application of water mist with droplet sizes ranging between 3 and 5 μm and densities ranging between 104 and 105 per mm3. Stress forces of between 1 and 5 μN/μm2 in the native, dry multifilament thread puffs were reduced to between 0.1 and 0.5 μN/μm2 in the wetted collapsed state, with strain displacements reducing from between 2 and 5 mm in the dry to 0.10–0.12 mm in the wetted states. We conclude that wetting cribellate threads reduce their van der Waals adhesion with implications on the thread’s adhesive strength under tension. This should be considered when discussing the evolutionary transitions of capture silks from the ancestral dry-state nano-filaments of the cribellate spider taxa to the wet-state glue-droplets of the ecribellate taxa.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bico J, Roman B, Moulin L, Boudaoud A (2004) Elastocapillary coalescence in wet hair. Nature 432:690
Blackledge TA, Hayashi CY (2006) Unraveling the mechanical properties of composite silk threads spun by cribellate orb-weaving spiders. J Exp Bio 209:3131–3140
Bond JA, Opell DB (1998) Testing adaptive radiation and key innovation hypotheses in spiders. Evolution 52:403–414
Bond JE, Garrison NL, Hamilton CA, Godwin RL, Hedin M, Agnarsson I (2014) Phylogenomics resolves a spider backbone phylogeny and rejects a prevailing paradigm for orb web evolution. Curr Biol 24:1765–1771
Edmonds D, Vollrath F (1992) The contribution of atmospheric water vapour to the formation and efficiency of a spider’s capture web. Proc Roy Soc London 248:145–148
Fernández R, Hormiga G, Giribet G (2014) Phylogenomic analysis of spiders reveals nonmonophyly of orb weavers. Curr Biol 24:1772–1777
Foelix R (2011) Biology of spiders, 3rd edn. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford
Hawthorn AC, Opell BD (2002) Evolution of adhesive mechanisms, in cribellar spider prey capture thread: Evidence for van der Waals and hygroscopic forces. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 77:1–8
Hawthorn AC, Opell BD (2003) Van der Waals and hygroscopic forces of adhesion generated by spider capture threads. J Exp Biol 206:3905–3911
Kronenberger K, Vollrath F (2015) Spiders spinning electrically charged nano-fibres. Biol Let 11(1):20140813. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0813
Opell BD (1994) Factors governing the stickiness of cribellar prey capture threads in the spider family Uloboridae. J Morphol 221:111–119
Opell DB, Bond JE (2001) Changes in the mechanical properties of capture threads and the evolution of modern orb-weaving spiders. Evol Ecol Res 3:567–581
Opell DB, Hendricks ML (2007) Adhesive recruitment by the viscous capture threads of, araneoid orb-weaving spiders. J Exp Biol 210:553–560
Opell BD, Schwend HS (2009) Adhesive efficiency of spider prey capture threads. Zoology 112:16–26
Opell BD, Tran AM, Karinshak SE (2011) Adhesive compatibility of cribellar and viscous prey capture threads and its implication for the evolution of orb-weaving, spiders. J Exp Zool 315:376–384
Peters TM (1984) The spinning apparatus of Uloboridae in relation, to the structure and construction of capture threads, (Arachnida, Araneida). Zoomorph 104:96–104
Peters HM (1987) Fine Structure and Function of Capture Threads in Ecophysiology of Spiders. pp187-202 in (ed.) W. Nentwig Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Peters HM (1995) Ultrastructure of orb spiders’ gluey capture threads. Naturwissenschaften 82:380–382
Sahni V, Blackledge TA, Dhinojwala A (2011) A review on spider silk adhesion. J Adhes 87:595–614
Shear W (1986) Spiders, Webs, Behavior and Evolution. Stanford University Press
Vollrath F (2005) Spiders’ Webs. Curr Biol 15:R364–R365
Vollrath F, Fairbrother WJ, Williams RJP, Tillinghast EK, Bernstein DT, Gallager KS, Townley MA (1990) Compounds in the droplets of the orb spider’s viscid spiral. Nature 345:526–528
Vollrath F, Edmonds D (1989) Modulation of the mechanical properties of spider silk by coating with water. Nature 340:305–307
Vollrath F, Tillinghast E (1991) Glycoprotein glue beneath a spider web’s aqueous coat. Naturwissenschaften 78:557–559
Zheng Y, Bai H, Huang Z, Tian X, Nie FQ, Zhao Y, Zhai J, Jiang L (2010) Directional water collection on wetted spider silk. Nature 462:640–443
Zheng Y 2014 <http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/08/interview-yongmei-zheng-spider-silk-water-droplet>
Acknowledgments
We all thank the Royal Society of London (International Exchange grant IE130506), the Paris group also thanks the Agence Nationale Reseaux (grant 09-JCJC-0022-01), La Ville de Paris (grant Programme Emergence) and the CNRS (grant PEPS PTI) while FV also thanks the US Air Force (AFOSR grant FA9550-12-1-0294) and the European Research Council (ERC grant SP2-GA-2008-233409). Last but not least, we thank the journal’s reviewers for improving comments. Data accessibility: All data and methods are reported within this paper and with the electronic supplementary material.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by: Sven Thatje
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Mist is sent onto cribellate capture thread, revealing the uloborid puffs in the first instants, before collapsing them into non-sticky spindle-knots. This reduced significantly the adhesion properties of the capture thread, effectively destroying its primary biological function. (MOV 5475 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elettro, H., Neukirch, S., Antkowiak, A. et al. Adhesion of dry and wet electrostatic capture silk of uloborid spider. Sci Nat 102, 41 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1291-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1291-6