Re: Where do cob webs come from?

Dear Rick Van Schoick

First: sorry for that long delay until I had my answer ready. I was away for some days and after that we had problems with our internet-server at our institute making it impossible to send anything.

Now to your question.

Where do cobwebs come from?
Cobwebs come from spiders, even if you do not see the spider. Indeed, there are quite a number of arthropods that can produce a sort of silk similar to that produced by spiders. For example, silkmoths or other butterflies produce a silk that is involved in some aspect of reproduction or development. The silk production may be used to produce a shelter for the eggs or for the pupae, e.g.

"Cobwebs," as they are commonly known, are built by spiders. I found a picture of a typical abandoned cobweb on the internet. Each spider species has its own pattern of weaving. Even the more or less irregular pattern shown on this picture is typical for the species producing it. Some spider species do not produce webs at all - jumping spiders, for example.

Some species build a very regular web every morning, destroying it in the evening again. The species building the web shown in the picture leaves its webs to trap prey, until they are covered with too much dust for hunting. Then they abandon it and build a new one somewhere else.

Why do you never see a spider in it? You are too late. Fresh webs are nearly invisible. When you see a web easily it is already covered with dust and abandoned.

Want more information?
Visit some of the following internet pages: A site on typical household spiders. Some schoolwork on spiders from australia. A site dedicated to one species: the Hobo spider.

Want even more?
Try one of these links.

Greetings
Juren Ziesmann