Design and Prey Capture Ability of Webs of the Spiders Nephila clavata and Argiope bruennichii

Abstract

The relationship between design and prey capture ability of webs was examined in the two orb-weaving spiders Nephila clavata and Argiope bruennichii. We collected unstressed webs of both species by framing them with large paper mounts, and exposed them at the same microhabitat. Webs of Nephila tended to capture more prey than those of Argiope, due to the larger number of sticky threads. However, the proportion of relatively large prey (2-6mm) was greater in Argiope, probably due to the larger amount of adhesive material attached to the web silk. We conducted another experiment to assess the retention ability of webs for large prey (20-25mm) by putting it on the web. The amount of time the prey remained trapped in the web was similar between the species, though the variation was large. We consider that the web of Nephila functions to capture large prey as well as very small prey.