ABSTRACT
A spider web is a device created by a spider out of proteinaceous silk extruded from its spinnerets, primarily to trap its prey. Among spiders, members of orb weavers (Families Araneidae, Nephilidae and Tetragnathidae) are unique for their webs of geometric precision. Web size and design may vary with the prey size, food availability and body dimensions. However, not all body dimensions are equally relevant to web design. Present study was conducted in the Happy Valley Tea Estate Darjeeling, West Bengal in order to affirm the query, does length of body or part/s and weight govern the capture area of spider web. Measures of the web structure were noted using a slide calipers. Equally several individuals of the orb weaving species that were taken into consideration were brought to the laboratory not only to measure the body/leg length under microscope but also for taxonomic evaluation. Present discourse is on the data generated during May – August, 2016. Our study was limited to the webs of Neoscona rumpfi (Thorell) (Araneidae) and Leucauge decorata (Blackwall) (Tetragnathidae). A total of 19 and 21 webs of the respective species were analyzed. Capture areas were calculated following Herberstein and Tso (2000). The result suggests that body length relates positively with the capture area of both the spider webs. However leg length, 4th leg plays a significant role in determining the capture area. Thus the present study once again confirms the fact that the capture area of spiders’ web is largely dependent on the body dimensions. However it is also important to remember that capture area of a particular species depend on dimension of specific body part/parts.
References
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