ABSTRACT
Foraging is one of the main evolutionary driving forces shaping the phenotype of organisms. In predators, a significant, though understudied, cost of foraging is the risk of being injured by struggling prey. Hunting spiders that feed on dangerous prey like ants or other spiders are an extreme example of dangerous feeding, risking their own life over a meal. Here, we describe an intriguing example of the use of attachment silk (piriform silk) for prey immobilization that comes with the costs of reduced silk anchorage function, increased piriform silk production and additional modifications of the extrusion structures (spigots) to prevent their clogging. We show that the piriform silk of gnaphosids is very stretchy and tough, which is an outstanding feat for a functional glue. This is gained by the combination of an elastic central fibre and a bi-layered glue coat consisting of aligned nanofibrils. This represents the first tensile test data on the ubiquitous piriform gland silk, adding an important puzzle piece to the mechanical catalogue of silken products in spiders.
FOOTNOTES
Funding
J.O.W. was supported by a doctoral scholarship of the German Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) and a Macquarie Research Fellowship of Macquarie University. M.Ř. was supported by the Czech Ministry of Agriculture (project MZe RO0415). T.K. was supported by Internal Grant Agency of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, CULS Prague (project 4211013123183). The µCT was founded by the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) (µCT Großgeräteantrag) to S.N.G.
Author contributions
Conceptualization: J.O.W., M.Ř.; Methodology: J.O.W., M.Ř.; Validation: J.O.W., M.Ř.; Formal analysis: J.O.W., M.Ř.; Investigation: J.O.W., M.Ř., T.K.; Resources: J.O.W., M.Ř.; Data curation: J.O.W., M.Ř.; Writing - original draft: J.O.W.; Writing - review & editing: J.O.W., M.Ř., S.N.G.; Visualization: J.O.W., M.Ř., T.K.; Supervision: S.N.G.; Project administration: S.N.G.; Funding acquisition: J.O.W., S.N.G.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing or financial interests.
- Received December 15, 2016.
- Accepted April 9, 2017.
- © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
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