http://blog.elizabethenslin.com/2009/04/tarantula-web/ A Writer's Reflections on Nature and Culture Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:07:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://blog.elizabethenslin.com/2009/04/tarantula-web/comment-page-1/#comment-47 Liz Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:36:33 +0000 http://blog.elizabethenslin.com/?p=1563#comment-47 Thanks for the detailed information. The silk was very funnel-like, so your guess is probably right. Such a big hole for a small spider. Thanks for the detailed information. The silk was very funnel-like, so your guess is probably right. Such a big hole for a small spider.

]]> http://blog.elizabethenslin.com/2009/04/tarantula-web/comment-page-1/#comment-45 Bill A Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:49:20 +0000 http://blog.elizabethenslin.com/?p=1563#comment-45 No, this almost certainly isn’t a tarantula. It looks like the web of an agelenid. Spiders belonging to the family Agelenidae are also called funnel-web weavers. I’m guessing it’s a species belonging to the genus Agelenopsis. Agelenids and tarantulas are often found close together here in the southwest, but their use of silk is quite different. Tarantulas (here in the SW) live in burrows in the ground. They may close their burrows with silk, or even put silk on the ground surface around the entrance, but it does not extend up onto vegetation, and is not used for prey capture. Anelenids, on the other hand, construct funnel-shaped webs with a sheet that often does extend up onto vegetation, and is used to capture prey. The funnel-like part (shown in the photo) serves as a retreat. This retreat may extend down into a cavity in the soil, but the cavity is just a protected place for the retreat, not really a true burrow. No, this almost certainly isn’t a tarantula. It looks like the web of an agelenid. Spiders belonging to the family Agelenidae are also called funnel-web weavers. I’m guessing it’s a species belonging to the genus Agelenopsis. Agelenids and tarantulas are often found close together here in the southwest, but their use of silk is quite different. Tarantulas (here in the SW) live in burrows in the ground. They may close their burrows with silk, or even put silk on the ground surface around the entrance, but it does not extend up onto vegetation, and is not used for prey capture. Anelenids, on the other hand, construct funnel-shaped webs with a sheet that often does extend up onto vegetation, and is used to capture prey. The funnel-like part (shown in the photo) serves as a retreat. This retreat may extend down into a cavity in the soil, but the cavity is just a protected place for the retreat, not really a true burrow.

]]>