The Curious Webspinner Insect Knits a Cozy Home | Deep Look

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. But shooting silk from her feet requires her to moonwalk to get around.

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With the holidays just around the corner, it’s that time of year when you’re ready to burn off Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas cookie calories by heading outdoors for a hike. Maybe you’ve noticed what looks like spider webs woven in between weeds alongside the trail, or poking out from under rocks or draped across logs.

But take a closer look – those webs might actually not be spider webs. A lot of them are silken habitats, known as 'galleries,' created by insects called webspinners.

---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

https://www.kqed.org/science/1949380/

--- Where do webspinners live?
You find them living in a variety of habitats all over the world, from humid tropical rain forests to dry, hotter areas.

--- Do only adults spin silk?
Actually, everybody spins silk, the males, females and the nymphs. It’s completely unique for insects to have that ability.

--- Who is briefly featured in the episode turning over the log?
While only her hands make a short cameo in the video, Janice Edgerly-Rooks, is a professor of biology at Santa Clara University. She’s been studying these insects for most of her career and was invaluable to us in the production of our episode.

---+ For more information:
Janice Edgerly-Rooks’ at Santa Clara University
https://www.scu.edu/cas/biology/facul...

---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:

It’s a Bug’s Life:    • It's a Bug Life | Deep Look  

---+ Shoutout!

🏆Congratulations 🏆to the following fans on our YouTube community tab for correctly identifying the insects besides webspinners that produce silk with their front feet: the balloon flies of the Empididae family, such as Hilara maura.

João Farminhão
TheWhiteScatterbug
Ryan Stuart
Anthony Nguyen
henry chu
biozcw

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