This article is about the spider or insect organ. For other uses, see Spinneret (disambiguation).
The spinnerets of an Australian garden orb weaver spider.Black spinneret of Phidippus adumbratus visible below red abdomen
A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera.[1] Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and are typically segmented.[2][3] While most spiders have six spinnerets, some have two, four, or eight.[4] They can move both independently and in concert.
Most spinnerets are not simple structures with a single orifice producing a single thread, but complex structures of many microscopic spigots, each producing one filament. This produces the necessary orientation of the protein molecules, without which the silk would be weak and useless. Spigots can be singular or found in groups, which also permits spiders to combine multiple filaments in different ways to produce many kinds of silk for various purposes. Spinneret morphology can help arachnologists identify the taxon of a specimen and the specific morphology of a spigot can determine its use as well. For example, flagelliform spigot is unique to Araneoidea, and another kind of spigot found in sets of three, referred to as cylindrical gland spots, are found only in females and used for making egg sacs.[5] The desert grass spider, Agelenopsis aperta, has especially prominent spinnerets that extend out of the end of their abdomen.[6]
Various species of spiders use silk extruded from spinnerets to build webs, to transfer sperm, to entrap insects by wrapping it around them, to make egg-cases, to manipulate static electricity in the air, and to fly (ballooning), etc.
Some insect larvae (including silkworms) extrude silk to make a protective cocoon for their metamorphosis. The insects known as web spinners weave silken galleries for protection from predators and the elements while foraging and breeding.[7]
^INSECTA: EMBIOPTERA (EMBIIDINA) Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved December 1, 2013
^Wiggins, Charlotte (Nov 10, 2013). "Gardening to Distraction: Along came a spider". The Rolla Daily News. Therolladailynews.com. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
^Pechmann, Matthias; Khadjeh, Sara; Sprenger, Frederik; Prpic, Nikola-Michael (2010). "Patterning mechanisms and morphological diversity of spider appendages and their importance for spider evolution". Arthropod Structure and Development. 39 (6): 453–467. doi:10.1016/j.asd.2010.07.007. PMID 20696272.
^Spider Identification – Types of Spiders, Retrieved December 1, 2013
^Coddington, Jonathan A. (Spring 1989). "Spinneret Silk Spigot Morphology: Evidence for the Monophyly of Orbweaving Spiders, Cyrtophorinae (Araneidae), and the Group Theridiidae Plus Nesticidae". The Journal of Arachnology. 17 (1). American Arachological Society: 71–95. JSTOR 3705406. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
^Bradley, Richard A. (2012-12-18), "FAMILY CLUBIONIDAE • Sac Spiders", Common Spiders of North America, University of California Press, pp. 105–106, doi:10.1525/california/9780520274884.003.0014, ISBN 978-0-520-27488-4, retrieved 2020-12-08
^Richards, O. W.; Davies, R.G. (1977). Imms' General Textbook of Entomology: Volume 1: Structure, Physiology and Development Volume 2: Classification and Biology. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 0-412-61390-5.
A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs...
spinneret can be used with multiple solutions. Emulsions can be used to create core shell or composite fibers without modification of the spinneret....
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spinneret into air and subsequently cooled. Dry Spinning, in which a polymer is dissolved in an appropriate solvent and extruded through a spinneret into...
eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh...
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palp. Adjoining these is the labium-hypopharynx which houses a tubular spinneret which is able to extrude silk. Caterpillars such as those in the genus...
minerals until a liquid forms. It is then extruded through bushings (spinneret), which are bundles of very small orifices (typically 5–25 micrometres...
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that the larvae eat. The lower jaw, or labium, is weak, but may carry a spinneret, an organ used to create silk. The head is made of large lateral lobes...
fossils resemble spiders in having two of their key defining features: spinnerets for spinning silk, and a modified male organ on the pedipalp for transferring...
Uraraneida, spider-like animals able to produce silk, but which lacked true spinnerets and retained a segmented abdomen bearing a flagellum-like tail resembling...
Neotama mexicana, also known as the long-spinneret spider or Mexican two-tailed spider, is a species of tree trunk spider in the family Hersiliidae. It...
have two or four spinnerets. Spinnerets are flexible, tube-like structures from which the spider exudes its silk. The tip of each spinneret is called the...
period, bears the earliest known silk-producing spigots, but its lack of spinnerets means it was not one of the true spiders, which first appear in the Late...
to the spinnerets toward the epigastric furrow on the underside of the abdomen. In most spiders the spiracle is just anterior to the spinnerets. Like clubionids...
gives the species its common name; there is a small white spot above the spinnerets. During the day, individuals reside in silken retreats. They emerge to...
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cloudy solution was usually thrown away. Kwolek was denied the use of the spinneret for her solution because it was thought the solution would clog the machine...
cellulose solution is then pumped through spinnerets, devices used with a variety of synthetic fibers. The spinneret is pierced with small holes rather like...
fibers are broken down with chemicals and extruded through mechanical spinnerets; the chemicals include lye, carbon disulfide, and strong acids. Retailers...
fibers wound into larger supermolecular aggregates. The structure of the spinnerets on spiders’ tails, and the contributions of their interior glands, provide...
it hunts for insects and other spiders at night and uses its enlarged spinnerets to produce a sticky silk to subdue its prey. It is also an opportunistic...
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