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Silken Toolkits: Biomechanics Of Silk Fibers Spun By The Orb Web Spider Argiope Argentata (Fabricius 1775), Todd A. Blackledge, Cheryl Y. Hayashi

Todd A. Blackledge

Orb-weaving spiders spin five fibrous silks from differentiated glands that contain unique sets of proteins. Despite diverse ecological functions, the mechanical properties of most of these silks are not well characterized. Here, we quantify the mechanical performance of this toolkit of silks for the silver garden spider Argiope argentata. Four silks exhibit viscoelastic behaviour typical of polymers, but differ statistically from each other by up to 250% in performance, giving each silk a distinctive suite of material properties. Major ampullate silk is 50% stronger than other fibers, but also less extensible. Aciniform silk is almost twice as tough as other …