I usually don't appreciate the efforts of spiders, save for when they rid my world of unwanted bugs. But I really do appreciate stabilimenta: the act, by some spiders, of weaving squiggles into their webs for the purpose of making the web's presence known to creatures who might accidentally pass through it. I wish the garden spiders currently placing veils of webs across every pathway in my yard would use it. I can't tell you how many mouthfulls of web I've had to contend with over the past week.

This yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) has made her stabilimenta from silk. In fact, she looks to have gone overboard. One study has revealed that spiders who employ stabilimenta suffer a 34% reduction in the efficacy of their webs, though their webs are far less likely to get knocked down. It's a trade off, you see. It's kind of like how we humans will use orange safety cones or flares or reflective vests to alert drivers to the presence of humans in traffic lanes.

But not all stabilimenta are spun from silk. Other spiders (the use of stabilimenta is considered by some to have developed independantly among many different spider species) use egg sacs or even detritus to warn passersby of the presence of their webs. It's like how I use my body odor and constant barrage of not-so-funny jokes to alert my coworkers of my presence.

Photo by[Image] Ash