Tarantulas spin web from their feet!

[M Zurowski]

Hello all,

I read in a 'how it works' magazine ( the most recent issue ) that scientists claim that tarantulas spin web from their feet. I have never heard on any other study that suggests this. Has anyone heard of this before?

Regards, Zurowski

[Mark Pennell]

Hi
If you get chance to read this paper it's pretty much debunked.

Cheers
Mark

1749
The Journal of Experimental Biology 215, 1749-1752 © 2012. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd doi:10.1242/jeb.069690
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Tarantulas do not shoot silk from their legs: experimental evidence in four species of New World tarantulas
Fernando Pérez-Miles* and David Ortíz-Villatoro
Sección Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay *Author for correspondence (myga@fcien.edu.uy)
Accepted 3 February 2012

[Mark Pajak]

Wowzers, I just assumed they did after all of the media attention and bbc coverage. How could they have been mistaken?