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First published online June 27, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 2243-2251 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.016147

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The contribution of axial fiber extensibility to the adhesion of viscous capture threads spun by orb-weaving spiders

Brent D. Opell^*, Brian J. Markley, Charles D. Hannum and Mary L. Hendricks

Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: bopell{at}vt.edu)

Accepted 28 April 2008

The viscous capture threads produced by over 4000 species of orb-weaving spiders are formed of regularly spaced aqueous droplets supported by a pair of axial fibers. These threads register increased stickiness when spans of increasing lengths contact a surface, indicating that adhesion is recruited from multiple droplets. This study examined threads produced by five species to test the hypothesis that axial fiber extensibility is crucial for this summation of adhesion. It did so by comparing the stickiness of unstretched threads with threads that had been elongated to reduce the extensibility of their axial fibers. As stretching these threads also increased the distance between their droplets, we measured the stickiness of stretched threads with contact plates whose widths were increased in proportion to the degree of thread elongation. We then accounted for the actual thread elongation achieved for each individual's threads and for differences in the five species' absolute thread extensibility. The results showed that in four species thread extensibility contributed positively to adhesion. For three species, thread extensibility and droplet volume together explained the mean per droplet adhesion of threads. Models based on these three species show that, as threads were elongated, increasing amounts of potential adhesion were lost to diminished axial fiber extensibility. These models indicate that approximately one-third of an unstretched viscous thread's stickiness accrues from the adhesive recruitment made possible by axial fiber extensibility.

Key words: orb-web, prey capture thread, thread adhesion, viscous thread

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