Web Watching: A Guide to Webs & the Spiders That Make Them - Softcover

Weber, Larry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0990915875 ISBN 13: 9780990915874

Publisher: Stone Ridge Press, 2018

Synopsis

Your guide to spiders and their webs

We see webs everywhere, but do you know which spider made each web? And for what purpose? This user-friendly guide by award-winning science teacher and lifelong spider watcher Larry Weber helps you untangle the mystery of spider webs and demystify the many purposes of silk. Did you know that spiders have up to seven silk glands and that each produces a different type of silk? The complex process of building a giant orb web is explained in detail. Over 40 species of spiders and their webs are discussed here in detail, with over 200 color photos and 50 illustrations.

About this title

About the Author

Larry Weber has the perfect name for a lifelong spider and web watcher. He was a science teacher for more than 40 years and received the Minnesota Secondary Science Teacher of the Year and the National Biology Teacher Association’s Middle School Life Science Teacher of the Year awards. He has a weekly radio phenology program, a phenology column for a local newspaper and is one of the founders of the Minnesota Phenology Network. Larry taught University for Seniors for several years and also teaches many Minnesota Master Naturalist courses. He is also the author of Butterflies of the North Woods, Spiders of the North Woods, Fascinating Fungi of the North Woods, Backyard Almanac, Webwood: Seasons of Life in the North Woods and Minnesota Phenology. Larry lives on an old farmstead in Carlton County, Minnesota, where daily walks keep him in tune with the phenology of our northern flora and fauna.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Sheet Webs

Sheet Webs appear to be either bowl-shaped, dome-shaped or flat. The spider is beneath the flattened part of the web. Outdoors these webs are on shrubs, trees and often in swamps. Webs can be found from spring to fall, but best in late summer.

Families of Sheet web building spiders:
Linyphiidae; Sheetweb Weavers
Hahniidae: Dwarf Sheet Spiders

Bowl and Doily Weaver
Family Linyphiidae

Web―Sheet Web
Webs are usually a few inches wide and tall; but can be up to a foot. The main part of the web is cup-shaped (bowl) with a flat part (doily) below, with many threads above and below. Spider sits inverted under the bowl. Insects hit the top tangle of threads and fall into the “bowl.” The spider then captures the prey. Webs can be found from spring, throughout summer and into fall.

Observations: I find these abundant webs on dew covered mornings. They last for many days or weeks, but can be seen best when covered in dew and backlit. I have found them in fields, along roadsides and at edges of woods, but they appear to be most common in shrubs; especially evergreens and in swamps. Leatherleaf plants in the bogs often host dozens of these webs. Spiders remain in the web; no retreat. Members of this group are common late-season spiders; often ballooning and traveling in fall.

Bowl and Doily Weaver
Frontinella communis

Spider
Body is small; 3 to 4 mm with long legs, making a legspan that can be 9 to 12 mm. The oblong abdomen is dark with white markings on the sides.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stone Ridge Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0990915875
• ISBN 13: 9780990915874
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144