the golden orb weaver through the ages

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 1/36

Meghan Fitzgerald

UW Zoology

The Golden Orb

Weaver (Nephila)through the ages:

from medieval tortureto space travel

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 2/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 3/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 4/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 5/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 6/36

• Nephila facts and details

• Nephila’s awesome adventures

• Tiny bit about what I do• Completely non-related, but fantastic

spider thing

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 7/36

The Orb-Weavers

~ 42,000 species of Araneae described

~ 3000 orb-weavers

• (estimated to be apx 10,000 total)• 25% of world-wide spider diversity

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 8/36

Orb Weavers

Phonognatha graeffei 

Leaf curling spider 

Cyclosa spp

Trash-line spider 

 Argiope argentata

Silver Garden Spider 

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 9/36

Oldest known genera of

orb-weaving spiders (maybe)!

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 10/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 11/36

The Golden Orb Weavers

(Nephila)

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 12/36

• Sexually dimorphic

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 13/36

Sexually dimorphic

Sometimes live in groups

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 14/36Emily Khazan @ Cano

• Sexually dimorphic

• Sometimes live in groups

• Will eat pretty much anything

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 15/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 16/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 17/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 18/36

• Sexually dimorphic

• Sometimes live in groups

• Will eat pretty much anything

• Large, yellow web

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 19/36

Nephila silk

• Tensile strength

 – Comparable to steel per unit volume

 – Greater than steel per unit weight• Kevlar is three times harder to break

 – Nephila silk is five times more elastic

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 20/36

• 18th century France - Camboué

 – Couldn’t produce in reasonable quantity

 – Few produced pieces disappeared

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 21/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 22/36

Sweet cape

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 23/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 24/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 25/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 26/36

• Randy Lewis (U of Mt) created a line of

transgenic goats – Goats milk with the protein found in spider’s

dragline silk

• 30 goats currently in a small farm in Utah

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 27/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 28/36

Spiders in Space!

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 29/36

In 2011 two Nephila clavipes, Gladys and

Esmeralda, lived on the International Space

Station for 45 days

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 30/36

Which brings us to 2011

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 31/36

Spiders in a house

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 32/36

Spiders

in a box

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 33/36

Spiders on a String

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 34/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 35/36

7/23/2019 The Golden Orb Weaver Through The Ages

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-golden-orb-weaver-through-the-ages 36/36