How does a spider weave a web, where does spider silk come from? Signs and superstitions about spiders.

Signs and superstitions about spiders 4.43 /5 (7 votes)

Spiders have long been considered mystical creatures. It was believed that they were friends with evil spirits. The Slavs, for example, believed that eight-legged animals were the pets of the brownie, and cohabitation with these insects most often meant a favorable outcome. Therefore, under no circumstances should you see a spider. it was not allowed to push or drive away- luck left home with him.

The ancient Slavs had a belief, that if you swallow a spider, it will lead to pain in the stomach and head, as well as numerous health problems. In Europe, on the contrary, spiders were highly respected and were considered guardians of the hearth and excellent fly catchers.

They were actively used V magical rites and rituals, were swallowed whole alive and added dried to potions. It was believed that carrying live spiders with you in a bag would help get rid of asthma and malaria.

Of course, spiders are not the most pleasant insects, but according to beliefs and folk wisdom, they are the guardians of the house and cannot be killed.

Folk signs: if you saw a spider

If you periodically see spiders in your home, don’t be upset - this speaks of peace and prosperity in the family. It is very good to see a cobweb over a bed or over a workplace, which indicates good luck and happiness. But if a cobweb is woven in the kitchen or above the door, this promises discord in your personal life and troubles in the family, in this case you should general cleaning throughout the house with salt.

Spiders are different in color and move differently. If the spider goes down, then this means that you will soon have guests; if it goes up, then wait for news. Killing a spider, even by accident, is considered a great misfortune. Black and red spiders bring misfortune, while white ones promise joy and satisfaction.

Exist as harmless, so dangerous spiders, for example, the cross spider, whose poison can even kill a person.

Spiders in mythology

IN ancient mythology spiders were called arachnids and they were negative characters who sucked all the vital juices out of people. The image of a spider is associated with the house, its protection; here a parallel can clearly be drawn with a cancer, which constantly backs away and tries to sit in a quiet hole, but unlike its brother, it rarely attacks and is a purely peaceful creature.

Spiders and the weather

Spiders are good weather predictors:

• if they roll up their web, it will rain;
• if it gets on your face, then it means clear weather;
• if you see that the spider has not rolled up its web even during the rain, then it will be insignificant and short-lived;
• if you see a spider weaving a web, then the weather will change;

Spiders in the house

If you see a spider running across or on the floor, then it is possible to move.

If he came down from the ceiling straight into your hands, then expect it from fate.

If there are too many spiders in yours, this indicates dampness in the room.

Spiders actively help rid the house of flies, which is very important in the autumn - summer period, however, then you will have to collect an unaesthetic web with the corpses of all kinds of insects.

Spiders in magic

In magic, spiders are widely used to take away a person’s memory, to force them into difficult circumstances, to scare them, but meanwhile, powder from some types of spider legs can heal a person from ailments. Medieval witches carried dried spiders around their necks or in their pockets, believing that they thereby strengthened their magical powers, luring victims into their networks. But, as a rule, they did not achieve anything by this except the fires of the Holy Inquisition.

Good omens about spiders

When to determine What does an insect bring with it - trouble or joy? Apart from observing his behavior, nothing else is needed. If, you shouldn’t interfere with the spider, and if, you shouldn’t blame him - he’s just a messenger.

• It is believed that when a spider descends on the web, an unexpected surprise, good news, and a long-awaited guest awaits the owner of the house.
• An insect landing on your hand warns of imminent profit.
• Meeting him on the street in daylight means expecting quick love.
• Accidentally tearing off a cobweb means being rich in the future.
• When you see a spider, you definitely need to make a wish - if it starts to fall down on the web, the wish of the person who made it will be fulfilled.
• A spider falling on clothes symbolizes a quick replenishment of the budget.
• Seeing an insect in the evening means a quick deal, a successful contract, or an unexpected offer.
• Weaving a web, a spider speaks of imminent profit.
• Spider white, silver, red, Brown promises happiness.
• A spider crawling upward warns of an upcoming good event or good news.
• Hidden in things, an insect should not frighten or cause unpleasant emotions. A spider among personal belongings indicates a quick addition to the items in which it was found.
• Having noticed a spider in their bathroom, the owners of the house should think about their life - whether everything is fine with them.
• The web has a remarkable esoteric ability: after any quarrels, insults, or misfortunes in the house, it takes all the bad energy upon itself, thus cleansing the house.
• An insect running across the table foreshadowed a quick trip, a trip, a housewarming party.
• If part of your face gets caught in a cobweb, it means good weather.
• When there are a lot of spiders in a house, it means that its inhabitants do not need to worry about the possibility of spiders.

Bad omens about spiders

• Killing a spider means depriving yourself of good luck for some time, and maybe even your health.
• When a spider descends the wall, it announces an imminent loss, material or spiritual.
• A spider of yellow, orange and black colors most often informs the observer of impending misfortune.
• Those who see a spider will be unhappy in marriage.
• If an arthropod suddenly falls on your head, it portends illness, loss, or personal problems.
• A girl who sees a spider's web above the door should think about her partner's fidelity; this is usually how a spider warns of betrayal.
• spiders do not bode well. Especially if there were a lot of them or you dreamed of large black spiders.
• Meeting a spider in the morning means suffering failures all day.
• The cobwebs twisted next to the icons carried bad news.

Like all superstitions, signs about spiders have no meaning if you don’t believe in them. However, we should not forget that these insects are somehow connected with other worlds, which means that sometimes you need to listen to popular beliefs.

Video signs and superstitions about spiders

Watching insects in the summer, you can long admire the speed and grace with which the spider weaves its web. It is not for nothing that all world cultures have references and comparisons to the web as something incredibly complex and sinister. But where does the spider get the thread to build its ingenious traps?

10 facts about the web

Below 10 interesting facts about the web that these insects produce:

1. Almost all types of spiders weave webs.
2. Only some of them use it as a trap.
3. Spiders living in burrows still entwine the walls with their thread, it’s more convenient for them.
4. An insect sitting in a web receives all the information about the world around it due to the vibration of the threads.
5. Some spiders weave webs that do not capture the victim, but only warn of its approach.
6. Not all spiders are equally dexterous. For some insects, it takes almost their entire life to learn to manage their network.
7. They rarely get entangled in their web, but this is quite possible.
8. The threads themselves are very durable; they can last for tens or even hundreds of years.
9. The size of the spider and the web are independent of each other, so don't be afraid if you come across a huge web in your home or yard. Perhaps it was woven by a small harmless spider.
10. The most poisonous and dangerous insects found in southern latitudes, so residents of the northern regions need not worry too much.

The structure and composition of the web

Having a general idea of ​​why spiders weave webs, you can try to figure out what is this interweaving of threads?:

1. It consists of many single threads.
2. All of them are attached to a solid surface at least at one point.
3. They go in the same plane, but in different directions.
4. Initially, the spider weaves long threads, forming a kind of frame.
5. Then he interweaves them with longitudinal threads in a circle, completing the work.
6. How sticky the web will be depends on how long it has been in existence and the type of spider.
7. The insect itself must be extremely careful, because, like its prey, it is not immune from the possibility of falling into its own trap.
8. The web is only a temporary home; if environmental conditions change or competition increases, the spider, without hesitation, will move to another place and begin to weave a new web.

But for any construction it is necessary material. And according to its properties spider thread unique:

• Mainly consists of proteins.
• Its properties are most similar to nylon.
• Has a huge margin of tensile strength. Up to two hundred kilograms per 1 square millimeter.
• If humanity learned to synthesize this kind of tissue, it would be used in many advanced branches of science and production.

A little spider anatomy

Let's figure it out how does a spider get this thread?:

As a result, the whole process occurs in three stages:

1. Activation of glands located in the abdomen of the spider. This process is accompanied by the synthesis of an adhesive protein substance, which is subsequently converted into a web.
2. The passage of the released secretion through the tubes, its accumulation.
3. Excretion of cobweb threads through 6 papillae located at the bottom of the abdomen.

More detailed studies have shown that the number of glands, tubes and papillae can vary depending on the type of spider.

There are varieties with a more complex web production system. But it all comes down to the fact that the insect sprays a small amount of web onto a hard surface and begins to weave a thread, which immediately dries up when exposed to air.

Why can't you kill spiders?

There are a huge number of superstitions about spiders and their webs. In most cases it is considered bad sign killing this insect or destroying its house. There is a reason for this:

• The spider feeds on other insects, killing flies, mosquitoes and other uninvited guests.
• One such resident with 8 paws, settling in your house, will work better than a squad of exterminators. And he won’t ask for anything for his work.
• Once all the insects are destroyed, the spider will have no options for food and will be forced to leave your home.

But there are always disadvantages:

1. The web collects all the dust and dirt.
2. Living in the southern regions, you may encounter poisonous and life-threatening species of spiders.
3. No one has canceled arachnophobia; the fear of spiders will make you instantly forget about all their usefulness.

Therefore, decide for yourself exactly how to deal with the uninvited guest. If you kill all other insects without hesitation, there is no point in making any concessions for the owner of eight legs.

On the other hand, pity for harmless creatures should always be present, at least at some level.

Where do spider webs actually come from?

To dispel a couple of myths, let's say that:

• The spider produces its thread using glands located in the abdomen.
• She doesn’t get out of his paws like the hero of comics and films.
• Excretion is provided by special papillae located at the bottom of the abdomen.
• It comes out of the anus, the web is not a waste product.
• Its composition does not particularly depend on the spider’s diet. The main thing is that there is sufficient nutrition.
• It is difficult to assess the labor productivity of spiders, but it is reliably known that spiders can weave a thread without stopping several tens of meters long.
• This is all experimental data, in real life Small insects do not need such huge trapping nets.
• On the other hand, one can appreciate the scale of the tragedy if one of the plots of horror films about the invasion of these huge insects comes true in real life.
• The spider does not have any threads in its abdomen; the web is produced in a semi-liquid form and it solidifies only in air.
• It's hard to believe that such a thin thread can be so strong. But it's all about physical features and chemical composition material.

Children often seem to ask simple questions, but you won’t be able to find the answer to them right away. Now you can in simple words Explain to your child where the spider gets its thread and why it weaves its ingenious webs. Only about the “prospects” of invasion giant spiders It’s better to keep silent, the writers’ invention will remain just a fiction.

Video: how does a spider make thread?

This video will show exactly how the spider produces its thread, how it weaves a web and catches its prey in it:

The abdomen of a spider is a real “factory” for the production of webs. It is in it that the voluminous arachnoid glands are located, which produce a sticky secretion that quickly hardens in air. The abdominal limbs form an arachnoid thread, and movable arachnoid warts direct the thread to the desired location.

The abdomen of spiders is movably connected to the cephalothorax by a thin bridge. The limbs, consisting of 7 segments, are also mobile. As a result, the spider’s body is able to produce web thread and quickly eliminate gaps in catcher net. Comb claws and bristles on the limbs help the spider quickly slide along the web thread, like a carriage on rails, allowing it to appear in time at the site where the web breaks.

Why do spiders build trapping webs?

The ability to produce a patina is not the main characteristic of spiders, however, weaving a trapping web has become distinctive feature arachnids. Spiders are true predators, waiting for their prey in a secluded place.

Thanks to the adhesive properties of the web, a wide variety of animals, ranging from insects and even small birds, get caught in spider webs.

Having stuck to the web, the victim tries to get out of the trap by swinging the web thread. The resulting vibrations are transmitted along the signal thread to the spider, which quickly approaches the prey along the threads and injects digestive juice, which, upon entering the victim, digests the internal contents. Then the spider weaves a web around it, forming something like a cocoon. It remains to wait a little until the digestive enzymes make it possible to simply suck out the liquid contents.

Spiders need webs to reproduce.

During the breeding season, the arachnoid thread secreted by the female allows the partner to find an individual of the opposite sex for mating.

Male webmasters construct miniature mating laces next to the females’ webs, into which they lure spiders for mating, rhythmically tapping their limbs.

Male cross spiders attach their web to the radial threads in the catching net, placing it horizontally. The male then strikes with his limbs, causing vibrations. This is how spiders signal their presence to the female. The female does not show aggression in this case and descends to the male for mating along the attached spider thread.

The web is a reliable refuge for offspring

The female lays eggs after fertilization in a cocoon woven from one or more silky threads. The cocoon itself is formed by 2 plates - the main and covering plates, connected by their edges. This cocoon structure provides reliable protection for the eggs.

The female first weaves a main plate, similar to the spermatic net for eggs. From above it wraps them with a second layer of web, which forms a covering plate. The shell of the cocoon is formed by silk threads tightly adjacent to each other and impregnated with frozen secretion. The walls of the cocoon become very dense, almost like parchment. In some species of spiders, the female weaves a loose cocoon that looks like a ball of cotton wool.

Web as a vehicle

Some species of spiders use webs to move through the air. Spiders climb higher on a tree, fence, high stone, roof of a building, lifting their abdomen, they release an adhesive thread. It quickly freezes in the air and the spider, having unhooked, sets off in flight on a light web carried by the oncoming air flow. This is how young spiders find their way to new habitats.

There are known cases of spiders appearing on the deck of a sea vessel sailing in the open sea far from the shore.

Adult spiders in species with small sizes can also migrate. Spiders are able to climb with the help of a web thread caught by the wind to a height of up to 2-3 kilometers. Moreover, spiders most often make their travels on the quiet and calm days of Indian summer. They travel long distances.

How different types of spiders use webs

In nature, there are tenet spiders that weave hunting webs (teneta), but non-netet species are also known that hunt without using a web. But they produce webs during periods of molting, resting, molting, and wintering. Spiders weave protective bags or shelters woven from cobwebs.

Web spiders escape when a predator approaches on a web thread, falling down. When the danger has passed, they return back to the web thread and rise up, quickly reeling in their safety rope.

The web is needed for insurance

Jumping spiders use web threads to attack. They attach a safety thread to an object and jump onto the intended victim. The South Russian tarantula, leaving its hole, pulls behind it a barely noticeable cobweb thread, along which it will always find the entrance to the abandoned shelter. If the insurance breaks, the tarantula is unable to find its hole and goes in search of a new one. Jumping spiders spend the night on web threads attached to the substrate. This is a kind of insurance against predators.

The main task of the web is to catch prey.

Cobwebs are used for lining

Tarantulas live in burrows, the walls of which are constantly crumbling, so these hairy spiders line the walls of their home with threads of cobwebs. This design protects the earthen walls from crumbling. Before entering their burrow, spiders weave a variety of web structures in the form of funnels, tubes, and movable lids that cover the entrance.

Gossamer Breathing Bell

Silver spider hunts in water that requires breathing atmospheric air. Sinking to the bottom, the spider captures a portion of air at the end of the abdomen in the form of a small bubble. On plants he builds an air bell, in which the air is held in a densely woven web.

The silverback spider “seals” an oxygen molecule into its web underwater, and thus breathes.

Web - to capture the victim

To catch prey, spiders weave trapping nets, but some species use web lassos and threads.

Tarantula spiders, having caught prey, hold it in the chelicerae, then pack the victim into a web.

Spiders that hide in the depths of the hole leave a signal thread. It stretches from the abdomen to the entrance to the shelter. Vibrations of this thread are transmitted to the spider, giving a signal that prey has been caught.

Not only spiders produce webs, but they are the ones who use them most widely. spider silk that weaving webs is their distinguishing feature.

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Most people don't like or are even afraid of spiders. They don’t treat cobwebs any better, an effective trap with which spiders catch their victims. Meanwhile, the web is one of the most perfect creations of nature, which is distinguished by a number of amazing properties.

Initially, the web is stored in liquid form

Inside the spider, the web is stored in liquid form and is a protein with a high content of glycine, serine and alanine. When liquid is released through the spinning tubes, it instantly solidifies and turns into a web.

Not all webs are sticky

The radial threads of the web, along which the spider usually moves inside its trap, do not contain an adhesive substance. Catching threads - thinner and lighter - are arranged in rings and covered with tiny droplets of adhesive substance. It is to them that the spider's inattentive victims stick.

But even if for some reason the spider is forced to switch from a radial thread to a ring one, it still won’t stick: it’s all about the hairs that cover the legs of the arthropod. When the spider steps on the thread with its paw, the hairs collect all the sticky drops. After the spider lifts its leg, drops from the hairs again flow onto the thread of the web.

The strength of the web is affected by light, temperature and humidity

The adhesive that holds the threads of the web together changes its stickiness depending on weather conditions. It has been established that keeping the web in a dry and hot place reduces its strength. Direct Sun rays will further weaken the connections between the threads and make the web even less strong.

Spiders use webs for more than just catching prey.

Spiders use webs for more than just making excellent traps. For example, some species use webs for mating games - females leave a long thread along which a passing male can reach the desired goal.

Spiders often weave webs around their burrows. Others use the threads as ropes to climb down. If the spider lives at a height, it can stretch several safety threads under its shelter so that if it falls, it can catch on to them.

An original way of using webs was found by some representatives of the family of orb-weaving spiders that live in tropical forests Amazonia. They weave several branches with thread in such a way as to make them look like an insect. Then, having moved a certain distance, the spider pulls the threads, causing the dummy to move, imitating the movements of an insect. This method helps spiders distract the attention of predators and, while the enemy examines the dummy, the arthropod has the opportunity to escape.

Some species of spiders leave an electrical charge on their web.

A real surprise was the news that spiders of the species Uloborus Plumipes, while weaving their ultra-thin webs, additionally rub it with their legs, which gives the trap an electrical charge. When an insect with an electrostatic charge appears next to the web, the trap is instantly attracted to it at a speed of about 2 m/s.

Some webs are amazingly long

The web of female Darwan spiders can scare even the most brave man: its catching area can reach 28,000 cm², and the length of some threads is up to 28 meters!

Darwin's spider threads stretching over the river

At the same time, the fastening threads of such webs are highly durable: for example, they are 10 times stronger than Kevlar, a material that is used as a reinforcing component in body armor

Some spiders can spin webs even underwater

We are talking about a silverback spider that can stay under water for a long time. When immersed in water, air bubbles are retained between the hairs of its abdomen, which the spider uses to breathe under water.

Despite all the dislike of mankind for spiders, as well as the abundance of prejudices and scary stories related to them, the question of how a spider weaves a web appears in children almost simultaneously with interest, and the water is wet. The result of the labor of these unattractive animals often really resembles elegant lace. And if the spiders themselves are unpleasant to look at, and many are even afraid of them, then the web created by them involuntarily attracts attention and evokes sincere admiration.

Meanwhile, not everyone knows that such “curtains” are not woven by all representatives of the detachment. Almost every species is capable of creating a thread for the warp, but only those that hunt with traps weave trapping nets. They are called tenet. They are even classified as a separate superfamily "Araneoidea". And the names of spiders that weave hunting webs number as many as 2,308 items, among which there are also poisonous ones - the same as karakurt. Those who hunt, attacking from an ambush or tracking down prey, use the web exclusively for domestic purposes.

Unique qualities of spider “textiles”

Despite the small size of the creators, the features of the web cause some envy on the part of the crown of nature - man. Some of its parameters are incredible even with the achievements of modern science.

1. Strength. The web can break from its own weight only if the spider weaves it 50 meters long.
2. Exceptional subtlety. An individual web is noticeable only when caught in a beam of light.
3. Elasticity and resilience. The thread stretches 2-4 times without breaking, and without loss of strength.

And all these qualities are achieved without any technical equipment- the spider makes do with what nature has provided it with.

Types of cobwebs

It is interesting not only how the spider weaves a web, but also the fact that it manages to produce different “varieties” of it. Roughly speaking, they can be divided into three types:

Scientists have identified another type of web that reflects ultraviolet light, luring butterflies. Many people believe that a finished web necessarily has its own pattern. However, this is not so: the names of spiders capable of creative delights can be counted without special labor, and all such artists belong to araneomorphic representatives of this order of arthropods.

What is it for?

If you ask a person why a spider needs a web, he will answer without any doubt: for hunting. But this does not exhaust its functions. Additionally, it is used in the following areas:

• for insulating minks before wintering;
• to create cocoons in which offspring mature;
• for protection from rain - spiders use it to make a kind of canopy that prevents water from entering the “house”;
• for traveling. Some spiders migrate on their own and send children away from the family on long webs blown by the wind.

Formation of building material

So, let's figure out how a spider weaves a web. On the abdomen of the “weaver” there are six glands, which are considered to be transformed rudiments of legs. A special secretion is produced inside the body, which is commonly called liquid silk. As it exits through the spinning tubes, it begins to harden. One such thread is so thin that it is difficult to see even under a microscope. With its paws located closer to the currently “working” glands, the spider twists several threads into one web - approximately as women did in the old days when spinning from tow. It is at the moment when the spider weaves a web that the main characteristic of the future web is formed - stickiness or increased strength. And what the mechanism of choice is, scientists have not yet figured out.

Stretching technology

To be effective, a fishing net must be stretched between something - for example, between branches. When the first thread is made long enough by its creator, he stops spinning and spreads out the spinning organs. So he catches the breeze. The slightest movement of the wind (even from the heated ground) carries the web to the neighboring “support”, to which it clings. The spider moves along the “bridge” (most often with its back down) and begins weaving a new radial thread. Only when the base is secured does it begin to move around the circle, weaving sticky transverse lines into it. It must be said that spiders are very economical creatures. They eat damaged or old cobwebs that turn out to be unnecessary, putting “recyclables” into a second round of use. And, according to the creator, it becomes old quite quickly, since the spider often weaves a web every day (or night, if it is a shadowhunter).

What do spiders eat?

Fundamentally important question, since the spider weaves a web primarily to obtain food. Note that all species of spiders, without exception, are predators. However, their diet varies greatly depending on their size, hunting methods, and location. All tenet (web-weaving) spiders are insectivorous, and their diet is based primarily on flying forms. Although if a crawling character falls onto the web from a tree, its owner will not disdain him. Those who live in burrows and closer to the ground eat mainly orthoptera and beetles, although they may drag a small snail or worm into their shelter. Among the diversity of what spiders feed on, there are also larger objects. For the aquatic representative of the tribe called Argyroneta, crustaceans, aquatic insects and fish fry become victims. Exotic giant tarantulas prey on frogs, birds, small lizards and mice, although most of their diet consists of the same insects. But there are also more fastidious species. Members of the family Mimetidae hunt only spiders that do not belong to their species. The huge tarantula Grammostola eats young snakes - and destroys them in amazing quantities. Five families of spiders (in particular, Ancylometes) catch fish, and are able to dive, swim, track prey and even pull it onto land.