Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and MatingSpiders, objects of eternal human fascination, are found in many places: on the ground, in the air, and even under water. Leslie Brunetta and Catherine Craig have teamed up to produce a substantive yet entertaining book for anyone who has ever wondered, as a spider rappelled out of reach on a line of silk, “How do they do that?”The orb web, that iconic wheel-shaped web most of us associate with spiders, contains at least four different silk proteins, each performing a different function and all meshing together to create a fly-catching machine that has amazed and inspired humans through the ages. Brunetta and Craig tell the intriguing story of how spiders evolved over 400 million years to add new silks and new uses for silk to their survival “toolkit” and, in the telling, take readers far beyond the orb. The authors describe the trials and triumphs of spiders as they use silk to negotiate an ever-changing environment, and they show how natural selection acts at the genetic level and as individuals struggle for survival. |
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Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging ... Leslie Brunetta,Catherine L. Craig No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
abdomen adaptations amino acid sequence amino acids animals arachnids arachnologists Arachnology Araneae araneoids araneomorphs arthropods Attercopus bases bees Behavior beta sheets book lungs build burrow capture spiral catching cells changes chelicerae chromosomes cobweb common ancestor cribellate cribellate silk cribellum Darwin decorations deinopoids dragline Drawn by Peter evolution evolutionary evolved flagelliform silk flying insects fossil genetic genomes golden orb weavers horizontal orb humans individuals Journal of Arachnology jumping spiders lampshade spiders legs live major ampullate silk MaSp1 MaSp2 mesotheles and mygalomorphs million years ago molecules mygalomorphs natural selection offspring orbicularian organisms original pairs Peter Loftus Phylogeny plants population Portia fimbriata predators prey produce silk researchers salticid scientists segments Selden silk genes silk glands sperm spider silk spider silk proteins spider species spigots spin spinnerets sticky stretches survival tarantulas thread trapdoor trigonotarbids types of silk Uloboridae variation vertical orb webs wasps web decorations wolf spiders