Latest Orb-weaver spider Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Researchers at Oregon State University have found an extraordinarily rare fossil. Trapped in amber is what the research team describes as the only example of a spider attack on prey caught in its web – a 100 million year old snapshot of an engagement frozen in time. Found in the Hukawng Valley of Nyanmar, the fossil dates from the Cretaceous between 97 and 100 million years ago. Giving some evidence to oldest examples of spider...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The ultraviolet decorations and intricate patterns of the orb-weaver spider’s web is used to attract food, say scientists from the University of Incheon, whose studies of a common orb-weaver spider species are published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Researchers suggest that the UV light-reflecting patterns seen in the webs of orb-weavers, particularly the Wasp Spider, could trick flying insects into landing...

Scientists report that they have solved the riddle of how spider webs can withstand different levels of stress - including hurricane force winds - without collapsing. Researchers, led by Markus Buehler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), used computer simulations to find out how silk structures respond to different levels of stress. What they found was quite remarkable. Reporting in the journal Nature, the researchers found that web durability does not only rely on silk...

Researchers have shown for the first time how Golden orb web spiders (Nephila antipodiana) add a chemical to their web silk to repel invading ants. The finding adds a chemical defense to the impressive properties of spider silk, already known to be very strong, elastic and adhesive, and may provide new opportunities for pesticide design. The study was led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of Melbourne, and is published in the journal...

A spectacular golden textile, conceived and created by Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley in Madagascar from silk thread collected from over one million Golden Orb spiders (Nephila madagascariensis), will go on exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, the country's second largest art museum. On special loan to the museum from Mssrs. Peers and Godley as part of the inaugural celebration of the museum's new galleries devoted to African art and Indian art of the Americas, the Spider Silk...

Decorative white silk crosses are an ingenious tactic used by orb-weaving spiders to protect their webs from damage, a new study from the University of Melbourne has revealed.The team, led by Dr Andre Walter and Professor Mark Elgar from the University of Melbourne's Department of Zoology, found that orb-weaving spiders respond to severe damage to their webs by building bigger silk crosses, but if the damage is mild they don't bother adding extra decoration.Professor Mark Elgar said web...

By Jessica Nimon, International Space Station Program Science Office, NASA's Johnson Space Center The very idea of spiders in space brings to mind campy, black and white horror films involving eight-legged monsters. In actuality, it is a scientific investigation called Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert-05 or CSI-05, in which researchers observe arachnid habits in a microgravity environment. This is the second spider investigation on the International Space...

A fossilized spider, uncovered in inner Mongolia, is thought to be the largest ever spider fossil discovered. It has been so perfectly preserved from 165 million years ago that scientists have identified it down to the exact species and that is was an adult female, BBC News reports.This specimen was uncovered from at a site called Daohugou in Inner Mongolia, also home to areas filled with fossilized salamanders, small primitive mammals, insects and water crustaceans. This fossilized Golden...

Studying spider silk, NSF-supported researchers learn about the properties of this sticky material, and their findings could lead to new bio-adhesives and glues that work under water Ali Dhinojwala and Vasav Sahni consider themselves materials scientists, not biologists. They study surfaces, friction and adhesion. Nevertheless, they have discovered that understanding how nature makes things stick sometimes means getting up close and personal with the creatures responsible. When they...

Scientists have confirmed that spider webs discovered in Britain are the oldest on record, dating back 140 million years to the Cretaceous period.The webs, which were enclosed in amber, were discovered on a beach in East Sussex by fossil hunter Jamie Hiscocks and his brother Jonathan.Professor Martin Brasier, a paleobiologist at the Oxford University, said the fossils were the earliest spider webs ever to be entered into the fossil record."This amber is very rare. It comes from the very...