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Submitted by kruzzoli on Thu, 12/06/2018 - 21:02
  • Another study that was conducted that explored a relationship between spider weight and spider silk thickness produced nonlinear results. There was not a strong relationship present between the weight of the spider and the thickness of the silk. This study looked at four different species of spiders and in each case, no relationship existed. In Araneus diadematus, 5 spiders were tested and the thickness of silk was random and could not be predicted based on the weight. In Nephila edulis, both spiders had the same silk thickness of 2.7 μm even though one spider was 206 mg heavier. In Latrodectus mactans, the thickness of the silk varied among the three spiders used but had no pattern present. The last species, euprosthenops sp, both had a silk thickness of 2.0 μm, however one spider was 505 mg heavier than the other spider. From this data, there is no relationship between the weight and thickness of the silk. The thickness of the silk might be consistent among all spider in certain species as seen in Nephila edulis and Euprosthenops sp, but a relationship between spider silk thickness and spider body weight does not exist.

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