The spider orb-web is a marvel of engineering design. Orb-webs are constructed by many species within the Deinopoidea (families Uloboridae and Deinopidae) and the Araneoidea (14 families, including Araneidae, Tetragnathidae, and Theridiidae). Despitethe effectiveness of the orb-web for capturing flying insects, some species in these two superfamilies do not make orb-webs. For example, the Deinopidae make small webs that they throw over prey, while theridiids typically construct cob-webs. The disjunct systematic distribution of orb-webs coupled with variation in web details are the basis for an intriguing question that has puzzled generations of arachnologists: did the orb-web originate once in the common ancestor of the Deinopoidea and Araneoidea -or -did the orb-web independently evolve in these two spider groups? My colleagues (Professor Cheryl Hayashi and undergraduates Teresa DiMauro and Victoria Vo) and I addressed this subject by looking at the silk proteins that deinopoid and araneoid spiders use to construct their webs.
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