LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Spiders: Silk
built 647 days ago
Spiders have eight legs (four pairs), and lack wings and antannae, but all vary in size, shape and color. They have two body regions: a cephalothorax (fused head with thorax) and an abdomen. Most spiders have eight eyes, some only six and several have fewer or none. All have a pair of jaw-like structures (chelicerae) which are hollow claw-like fangs through which venom can be ejected. The tip of the abdomen has silk-spinning glands. Young spiders (spiderlings) resemble adults except for their smaller size and coloration.
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Spiders have several spinneret glands located at their abdomen which produce the silken thread. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose. Seven different gland types have currently been identified, although each species of spider will possess only a few of these types, never all seven at once.
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Spiders reproduce sexually like most animals. Females lay eggs in batches, wrapping the batches in silken egg sacs. In some species the female carries the sac with her and in other species she merely deposits it in a safe place and abandons it. Basilica spiders (photo at left) lay their eggs sacs one under the other. The spiderlings hatch within the sac and then leave the sac to begin feeding. Like other arthropods, spiders must shed their old external skeleton (molt) in order to grow larger. Most spiders live only one or two years.
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Spiders can make different types of silk with glands and spinnerets at the end of the abdomen. Some silk, such as that for catching prey, is sticky, but other silk is not, such as that used for making an egg case. Spider silk is very strong, and in fact, the strongest natural fiber known is the silk of spiders in the genus Nephila.
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Spiders reproduce by means of eggs, which are packed into silk bundles called egg sacs. Spiders often use elaborate mating rituals (especially the visually advanced jumping spiders) to allow conspecifics to identify each other and to allow the male to approach and inseminate the female without triggering a predatory response. If the approach signals are exchanged correctly, the male spider must (in most cases) make a timely departure after mating to escape before the female's normal predatory instincts return.
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Spiders are not actually able to fly but they are very light in weight and the pull of the slightest breeze on a short line of silk is enough to lift them aloft and carry them considerable distances. Aerial dispersal or ballooning is most noticeable in the autumn and the word "gossamer" is possibly a corruption of "goose summer", which used to describe those days in October when "goose down" is seen drifting through the air. When large numbers of spiders balloon, their silk threads tend to drift together and form patches which are readily noticed.
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