Abstract
Although hersiliid spiders do not spin any webs, their silk glands, which belong to six types, are large and complex. Two groups of ampullate glands, one opening on the anterior spinnerets and the other on the median spinnerets, secrete two proteins each. About 180 pyriform glands are clearly bipartite. Over 200 type A aciniform glands opening on the median and posterior spinnerets are made up of three categories of secretory cells. Silk from these glands consists of two proteins (core and outer coat) joined together by an intermediary layer of acidic glycoprotein. All the 160 type B aciniform glands opening on the posterior spinnerets secrete a single protein. Fifty tubuliform glands opening on the median and posterior spinnerets produce two proteins, one of which is coloured. As in Urocteinae, long posterior spinnerets and large, numerous aciniform and tubuliform glands are correlated with swathing of prey and egg-cocoon construction. In Lycosidae and Agelenidae, the ampullate glands show the same number and distribution according to the spinnerets. However, anatomical and histochemical features of hersiliid aciniform and ampullate glands are close to those of some Araneoidea. Apart from peculiar characteristics, silk glands of Hersilia might represent an intermediate evolutionary stage towards Araneoidea.
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