"I would not be surprised to see this in many other species," Todd Blackledge of the University of Akron in Ohio said. "A large number of spiders are ground-dwelling, and would be faced with similar challenges." Spiders have used silk throughout their 400 million-year history, and many scientists suspect it first arose as a defense against water. By spinning a waterproof wall over the entrance to their burrows or dens, the animals could ride out floods and heavy rains. Modern spiders still exhibit this behavior too, using silken 'diving bells' to patrol lake bottoms, and to build homes in the crevices of coral reefs. The wolf spiders Petillon and his team studied don't build webs, and spend very little time using their silk, which may account for their strange talent in dealing with regular inundation. Related Links: |
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