Of silk and hairs

[Andy Leigh]

I was tidying up my Acanthoscuria geniculata's tank the other evening. Poking around a bit with some nice long forceps and she started to get a little annoyed. I then filled her water bowl by pouring from about 3ins height, this made a bit of a splash and she got quite tetchy and lunged at the stream of water a couple of times. After I was done and a few minutes later I noticed she was laying some silk over the water dish and started flicking hairs from the sides of her abdomen giving the silk quite a noticeable coating of brown fuzz.

Now I've heard of Theraphosa spp. incorporating hairs into egg sacks but can find no reference to A. geniculata adding hairs to silk, so I was wondering if anyone else had seen any similar behaviour in this genus or, indeed, in any other.

Next time I do any tidying I will make sure the camera is to hand and see if I can video this behaviour. Watch this space.

[Steven Hindmarch]

Hi Andy,

quite a couple of my spider do indeed work hairs into the silk. To name a few who do it regularly: B.vagans, B.albiceps, C.cyaneopubescens, A.geniculata and the meanest hair of all L.parahybana.

I think this behaviour might be a kind of a precaution system against further "pesky owners" .

Regards Steven