This Tiny Insect Spins Silk Without Being a Spider

Not everything that spins a web is a spider. If you find delicate webs that are intricately spun underneath a log in the forest, you may be looking at the work of a webspinner. A video from the YouTube channel Deep Look gives us a close view of these unique insects. Webspinners are not well known, but they are truly fascinating insects.

What Is a Webspinner?

Unlike spiders, which are not actually insects, but are instead arachnids, webspinners are in the insect order Embioptera. Webspinners, also known as footspinners, are related to praying mantises and walking sticks. There are around 400 species of Embioptera. That may sound like a lot, until you consider that beetles (order Coleoptera) contain around 400,000 different species. Among insects, Embioptera is a rather small order. However, some experts think we still have a lot to learn about webspinners and that there may be thousands of species in the order that we haven’t yet discovered.

Webspinners are found on every continent except Antarctica. Their habitats range from dry and hot areas to tropical rainforests. In the U.S., you will spot them mainly in southern states. Webspinners tend to stay in their burrows during fall and winter, and your best bet to see them is when they are more active during spring and summer. However, because they are nocturnal and also because they tend to stay in their burrows, they are a rare insect to find in the wild. Their presence is often known when their webbed galleries are discovered hidden under rocks or logs.

Webspinners are small, thin insects ranging in size from .2 to .6 inches long. They have bead-like antennae, and only the males have wings. Webspinners eat decaying plant matter, moss, and lichen, which they collect in burrows where they live.

Webspinners Create Galleries

Spiders spin webs, while webspinners create burrows—also called galleries—on bark, rocks, in crevices, and among leaf litter. These galleries are tunnels made of silk, protected by the webspinners’ very fine, yet strong, silk. While spiders produce their silk webs from spinnerets on their abdomens, webspinners eject silk from a special structure on their front feet.

In the video, we can see a macro view of a webspinner making its web. According to the narrator in the video, webspinners “intertwine the strands, waving back and forth, back and forth.” It’s “painstaking” work, and is done using ejectors on the bottom of the insect’s front feet. When the webspinner steps down, it releases the fine silk.

Webspinners have soft bodies, and their only defense against predators is to hide in safe burrows. Some of their predators include centipedes, ants, and spiders. Not only does their webbing keep them hidden from predators, but it also creates a waterproof roof. Though their silk is the finest of any animal, it provides a safe barrier.

Webspinners Are Social Insects

Female webspinners lay eggs inside their galleries. When the nymphs hatch, they continue to live inside the silken galleries, being cared for by their mother. The mother protects the eggs and the newly hatched nymphs. Once the nymphs grow, they will either stay in the same nest, helping to expand the tunnels, or they will leave and find another place to live. A gallery can contain multiple generations of webspinners.

Although webspinners are social insects like bees and ants, they differ in that each female webspinner lays eggs. Unlike a bee colony, where only the queen reproduces, all the webspinners in the nest produce offspring.

The Amazing Waterproof Properties of the Webspinner’s Nest

We also learn from the video that webspinners don’t like to get wet. Fortunately, their webbing has special waterproof properties. Water beads on the surface, not penetrating to the nest. Even more amazing, water changes the surface of the web, making it more slippery and even more waterproof.

Webspinners Have to Walk Backwards

When webspinners flee a predator, they can’t run forward. This would release the silk webbing from their feet. When they walk without wanting to release their silk, they have to carefully tiptoe. The video shows a close-up view of this unique walk. However, when they need to get away fast, they go backwards. They can move much faster backward than they do walking forward.

Webspinner Males Don’t Live Long

The males have very short lives without even feeding during them. Their only purpose is to find a female and to mate. After mating, the males are either eaten by the females or die shortly afterward.

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