Abstract
Silk synthesis is an ancestral character of both the Lepidoptera and the Araneae. Araneae evolution is marked by an increased commitment to a silk-producing physiology. At least three major Araneae speciation events are correlated with the evolution of new silk-producing glands and new silk proteins. In contrast, although 98% of the Lepidoptera produce silk, there appears to be no relationship between silk use, protein types, and species numbers. The differences in these two systems, both meeting a need to produce a large volume of protein, may reflect predictable resource availability to herbivorous Lepidoptera larvae but fluctuating resource availability to carnivorous spiders.
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