Golden Orb Weaver

The first spinning experiments were performed with dissolved raw silk of the silkworm Bombyx mori [31] and the golden orb-weaver Nephila clavipes [32]. For this purpose a minimized wet-spinning apparatus was constructed [31]. The apparatus was capable of spinning fibers from solutions containing 10 mg of soluble protein. 

Other animals create powerful weapons against their preys spiders are sticky traps master-builders. As an example, the Golden Orb Weaver spins a tough web which remains as a permanent fixmre, after that she spins a spiral of sticky insect-ensnaring silk and then she just waits and collects her reward. Many spiders wrap up their victims with silk, but they loll them by venom injection. There are some rare spiders... 

As shown earlier, orb weavers like the garden spider Araneus or the golden silk spider Nephila coat the capture threads with an aqueous solution that forms sticky droplets. Coat and droplets are crucial for the function of these capture threads as their elasticity derives largely from the high water content of the coat. However, water is important not only for these threads, but for many other types of thread as well, and the role of water as well as other solvents for understanding and manipulating the mechanical properties of spider silk caimot be understated (Fig. 8.9). This can be of special interest if we aim to produce bio-engineered silks with specific properties. 

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