Friday 22 June 2018

Flying spiders sense meteorological conditions, use nanoscale fibers to float on the wind



The crab spider spins out tens of fine silk fibers for its aerial dispersal

Date:  June 14, 2018
Source:  PLOS

Summary:
Spiders take flight on the smallest of breezes by first sensing the wind, and then spinning out dozens of nanoscale fibers up to seven meters long, according to a study publishing June 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Moonsung Cho, Ingo Rechenberg, Peter Neubauer, and Christoph Fahrenson at the Technische Universität in Berlin. The study provides an unprecedentedly detailed look at the "ballooning" behavior that allows certain spiders to travel on the wind for hundreds of kilometers.


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