page_title: Felted
section_title: Invertebrates
hierarchical_section_title: Felted / Zoological use of the term / Invertebrates
caption_attribution_description: Cochineal on Opuntia cactus, La Palma
context_page_description: Felted is a term variously applied to hairy or otherwise filamentous material that is densely packed or tangled, forming felt or felt-like structures. Apart from fibres in felted fabric manufactured by humans, the term "felted" may apply to the condition of hair such as in the pathological condition known as felted hair, or it may apply to the tangled threads of the tissue of certain fungi, to matted fibres in animal connective tissue, or to the felted outer coat of certain plants. To say that something is felted need not imply that any processes of matting, condensing and pressing fibres have been applied as in the processes for artificial production of felt fabric. Depending on the nature of the felted material, it might rely purely on the scaly or barbed texture of the matted fibres to prevent unraveling, but commonly it will include clayey or sticky materials for its structural integrity, or for increased density.
context_section_description: Various insects also create felted materials, generally forming part of the shelter for their young. Burying beetles are known for stripping the fur or feathers from the carcasses that they prepare for their young, and using the material to line and reinforce the crypt that they dig. it is however unclear whether this habit is anything more than incidental, and also how relatively important it is in the different species of the genus. As long ago as the 19th century at least, Jean-Henri Fabre demonstrated that the species that he investigated most certainly did not depend on feathered or hairy food items, being quite able to utilise reptiles and amphibians and fishes. However, there is no doubt about the use of felted fibre by various species of bees, in particular, those members of the Megachilidae that are known as carder bees build their nests mainly of plant fibre collected from arachnoid plants, though they also might add fibre from other sources, such as animal wool. The sheer amount of the material that they gather often is startling, bearing in mind that the species of bees are not at all large.
  Some invertebrates other than insects construct felted structures. Among those spiders are the most conspicuous. Many or most spider egg cases are partly or largely felted silk as well as woven or wound. The lids of various species of trapdoor spider burrows vary in their construction, but they are largely of earth and similar material reinforced with partly felted silk.
caption: Cochineal females. Note that the white waxy fibre does not cover the insect, but rather the eggs.
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