Function and Phylogeny of Spider Webs

A general discussion of the designs and functions of the silk structures spiders use to capture prey has not been attempted since the book of Witt et al (319). Knowledge has increased so greatly in the intervening years that complete coverage is now impossible in a review article. I have cited primarily more recent and general publications. Related aspects of web biology not emphasized here are reviewed in papers on particular taxonomic groups (260), general feeding ecology (233), choice of websites (131, 232, 234), interand intra-specific competition (and the lack of it) (273, 275, 314), ecophysiology (192), web removal (20), sexual behavior (139, 238), vibration transmission in webs (175), neurobiology (3), attack behavior (237, 279), communication (320), energetics of web-building (227), timing of web construction (229), cues used for orientation during web construction (80, 308), structure and composition of web lines (224, 290), physical properties of silk (109, 322), and silk glands (138). Due to the numbers of papers on orb webs, orbs are emphasized over non-orbs. The imbalance in research is strong (the ratio in the reference section is about 2: 1 orb: non-orb, despite the fact that the ratio in numbers of species must be closer to 1: 2 (H. W. Levi, personal communication). At least partially repairing this imbalance is a pressing need.