Monday, September 1, 2008

the garden spider

a conversation tonight with my brother revealed that my truck spider is in fact a writing spider, or a black and yellow garden spider, and the zig zag pattern in the web is a stabilimentum, the purpose of which is debated. My theory that the zigzag attracts prey is one of the arguments, but an even more convincing argument is that bold white lines make the web visible to birds (and fisheries biologists alike) so they will avoid flying into and wreaking havoc on a hard days work.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i love learning from your blogs. and your personal blog is a breath of fresh air compared to the viciousness of the comments from some losers/whiners on cattygirls. ive noticed that the more responses, the uglier people start getting....why? are they jealous/bitter that attention is being paid?