Helicopter damselflies specialize in preying on web-building spiders, like the little orb weavers. This predatory flyer is ...

This spider doesn’t run or hide when danger strikes. Instead, it builds a fake version of itself — and predators fall for it.

The “extra touches” to intricate webs - known as stabilimenta - enable the eight-legged hunters to find their next meal.

Every year Halloween enthusiasts adorn their homes with synthetic cobwebs. But humans aren’t the only creatures who decorate their abodes. Spiders bedeck their webs with “stabilimenta”—various woven ...

After a spider finishes weaving its web, it sometimes adds one last touch. A bright zigzag down the middle, like a silken “X.” These flourishes, known as stabilimenta, have puzzled scientists for a ...

Every year Halloween enthusiasts adorn their homes with synthetic cobwebs. But humans aren’t the only creatures who decorate their abodes. Spiders bedeck their webs with “stabilimenta”—various woven ...

This is a spider web as seen in bird vision (left), and fly vision (right). The zigzags on the spider's web send a secret message to birds that their insect prey can't see, even from less than a foot ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract We tested three hypotheses concerning the function of stabilimenta in the orb weaver Gasteracantha cancriformis: 1) warning to large animals ...

Conditional strategy theory provides a theoretical and experimental framework from which to predict both population differences in the expression of alternative behavioral phenotypes and the condition ...