Mesh-Web Weaver Spider – Dictyna Species
Female (left) and male mesh-web weavers
The type genus of the family, Dictyna is of world-wide distribution.
Spiders in the family Dictynidae are small, sedentary (that is, they build a web and stay in one place) arachnids that build irregular mesh webs to snare prey, and as shelters for themselves.
The spider begins by spinning a simple framework of parallel rows, then overlapping those with another set at right angles. The whole web is infused with sticky ribbons consisting of dry support lines and a woof of curled threads the spider pulls from the cribellum by means of a comb of bristles, called a calamistrum, on its fourth metatarsus. [2]
Being quite gregarious spiders in habit, these webs can become a serious problem when spiders congregate in large colonies – they are known to completely blanket small trees or shrubs. In the American Southwest, these communal webs can cover the walls of buildings!
Bossy mesh-web spider chases away ground cricket
This tiny mesh-web-weaver spider kept attacking this ground cricket’s antennae, eventually driving it away. It was rather comical to see a spider defeating an insect perhaps 25X its size.
Not much is known of the life cycle of these tiny spiders, but it is thought most species live only a single year. The females produce a few eggs at a time, encasing them in small egg sacs suspended in the mesh web.
Tree Encyclopedia / North American Insects & Spiders
Online since 2002
