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EVOLUTIONARY SHIFTS IN THE SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF SPIDER SILKS
Author(s) -
Craig Catherine L.,
Bernard Gary D.,
Coddington Jonathan A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1994.tb01312.x
Subject(s) - biology , spider , silk , reflectivity , botany , evolutionary biology , ecology , materials science , optics , physics , composite material
We measured the reflectance properties of unpigmented silks spun by a systematic array of primitive (Deinopoidea) and derived (Araneoidea) aerial, web‐spinning spiders, as well as silks spun by Araneomorphae and Mygalomorphae spiders that do not spin aerial webs. Our data show that all of the primitive aerial web spinners produce catching silks with a spectral peak in the ultraviolet (UV), and cladistic analysis suggests that high UV reflection is the primitive character state for silk spectral properties. In contrast, all of the derived aerial web spinners produce silks that are spectrally flat or characterized by reduced reflectance in the UV. Correlated with the evolution of these catching silks is a 37‐fold increase in species number and apparent habitat expansion. This suggests that the unique silk proteins spun by the araneoids have been important to their ecological and evolutionary diversity.