It’s Mother’s Day this weekend, so we’ve been thinking about marvelous moms of the insect world – like webspinners! Related to walking sticks and praying mantises, they produce the finest silk in the animal kingdom to keep their offspring and themselves safe. While spiders eject silk from their abdomens and caterpillars from their heads, webspinners have special silk ejectors on their front feet. Learn more about webspinners and how we filmed them in our video and in this week’s newsletter. We also wish all the moms out there a very Happy Mother’s Day!
Jenny Oh, Deep Look producer and senior vertical video producer
To protect herself and her eggs, female webspinners shoot super-fine silk from their front feet. They weave the strands to build a shelter that serves as a tent, umbrella and invisibility cloak.
In 1900, Sempervirens Fund launched the redwoods conservation movement. Learn more about the 125-year legacy of protecting redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains and help ensure redwoods remain sempervirens—always green.Join us.
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🕸️In spring and summer, webspinners build their silken shelters, called galleries, on the underside of a log, whereas in fall and winter they do so underground.
🌧️Webspinners are susceptible to drowning in heavy rains, so the silk protects the insects from water with its amazing waterproof properties.
🐜They’re soft-bodied. The silk they weave helps them hide, so they disappear into their silky habitat while ants and other predators just walk on top.
🏃♀️➡️If they need to escape, they have to either run away backwards or walk on their tippy toes to make sure they don’t engage their silk ejectors.
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Name That Plant!
Dandelions have many doppelgangers. Among them is the most successful plant you’ve never heard of. The plant is so prolific it has spread from its native Morocco all around the world. What’s its name? Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter.
Behind The Scenes
Filming Webspinners
From left to right: Janice Edgerly-Rooks, professor of biology at Santa Clara University, Deep Look producer Jenny Oh and Josh Cassidy, Deep Look’s lead producer and cinematographer, are filming webspinner silk. (Photo courtesy of Edward Rooks)
You’re more likely to spot webspinners in early spring or summer. They nibble on lichens, dead leaves and moss underneath their silken canopies in areas that aren’t too wet or shady. Janice Edgerly-Rooks, a professor of biology at Santa Clara University, was invaluable in helping us find them at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San José, California.
Support Deep Look on Patreon so we can keep making more weirdly wonderful videos about the tiny dramas playing out everyday in the natural world. Depending on your level of support, you’ll get more behind-the-scenes stories, cool swag like T-shirts and more. See more photos of our crew filming webspinners by becoming a Patreon member today!
