The weaving environment of the weaving spiders

Abstract

The weaving spiders live by making their webs according to their own weaving mode. The weaving mode consists of web form, web size, web angle, web height, web thread character, etc., and it is generally similar within a species, a genus or a family. The basic weaving modes are as follow: vertical (both single layer and multi-layer), horizontal (both small and large), cubic (both true cubic and line), sheet (inverted dish, with or without cradle; saucer, with or without cradle), and fixed (flat and curved surface) (See table 1). But the basic mode may be modified by situations such as growth and developmental stage, or slight individual variations, etc..In the classification of the spider's webs only their shapes have been noticed. This paper suggests a modification of this classfication by adding the important factors of the spatial Orientation and the spatial surrounding micro-habitat to which the web is attached.Web of any types are attached to some objects (such as tree branches or windowframes); these objects form scaffolding stands which have several possible characters: form, size. mobility, condition of surface, etc.. There are several shape types of scaffolding stand as follows: lengthwise, box with ceiling, widthwise with ceiling, widthwise with underbase, flat surface (See Fig. 1).On the other hand, from the viewpoint of weaving condition the surface of the earth has several types of habitat (Table 3). And each habitat consists of various micro-habitats. For example, a forest consists of 4 micro-habitats as follows: open area among trees, peripheral foliage, central foliage, basal area (soil, trunk, lowest branches, and open space) (See Fig. 2). such micro-habitats offer the scaffolding stands for making webs.These scaffolding stands, along with the shape and spatial orientation of webs themselves make up the weaving environment of the weaving spiders.