Spider webs more effective at ensnaring charged insects

Thursday, July 4, 2013 - 13:20 in Biology & Nature

Flapping bees build up a charge of several hundred volts, enough to electrostatically draw pollen from a flower. But researchers have discovered a downside to being charged: it attracts spider silk and increases the chance that the bee or any insect will be snared by a web as it passes by. Perhaps, they say, the more flexible silk of an orb's spiral evolved to allow wind and electrostatic charge to improve capture success.

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