Researchers discover daddy longlegs spiders capture prey using glue
Friday, October 3, 2014 - 07:50
in Physics & Chemistry
A team of researchers in Germany has finally figured out what the gooey-covered hairs on a daddy longlegs' pedipalps are for—they hold a type of glue that is used to prevent prey from escaping. The team describes how they made this discovery in their paper published in The Journal of Experimental Biology—by filming the spiders with high-speed cameras, testing the fluid and looking at them under a scanning microscope.