He then transfers the web to his palps, which he uses to place the sperm web in a female's genital opening. Some species use silk in even more specialized ways. A species that lives in freshwater ponds throughout Europe weaves a diving bell of sorts. The animal anchors the balloonlike structure it creates to an aquatic plant and then submerges, ferrying air bubbles in the bell. A type of sea spider builds a silken hideaway at the intertidal zone, retreating to the protected shell when the tide comes in.
Humans have in mind different uses for spider silk.
They envision medical products such as surgical thread and replacement ligaments, and military applications including flak jackets, parachute cords, and tethers for planes on aircraft carriers. Raising spiders has a long history of failure because of their cannibalistic tendencies. Two research groups, led by Lynn Jelinski, professor of engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Randy Lewis, professor of molecular biology at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, are among those deciphering spider silk's complex structure. The stuff of silk All 36,000 described species of spiders, which range everywhere except Antarctica, produce silk in glands located in their abdomens. Once made, the silk passes through spinnerets and exits the spider via spigots.