Evolution of Spider Webs

When it comes to creative methods of catching prey not many animals are able to rival spiders. Not just being among the small group of animals that create traps to catch their prey but also having many different methods of trapping the prey. And central to nearly all their trapping methods is their ability to spin a web. However, the way in which they do this is evolutionary puzzling because the way they catch their prey is quite advanced and it seems that the precursor to these abilities: just the ability to produce silk, would be useless to hunt creatures on its own. So how did spiders develop such complex prey catching abilities
To support me on Patreon (thank you): / mothlightmedia
To donate to my PayPal (thank you): www.paypal.me/mothlightmedia
To buy merchandise: teespring.com/en-GB/stores/moth-light...
Email: [e-mail]
If I have used artwork that belongs to you but have neglected to credit it this will just be because I was unable to find one. If this has happened please contact me and I will add a credit. Some Art work has been altered for the purposes of bettering them for video format; these alterations were done independent from the artists who created the original work, so they are not responsible for any inaccuracies that could have occurred with the changes being made.
Sources:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas...
www.nature.com/articles/news....
www.nature.com/articles/natur....
www.nature.com/articles/s4155...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

[@nelly5954]

The only web developers that like finding bugs

[@iamstickfigure]

Highly underrated comment. Lol

[@epicgamernik76]

Better to find a bug than to let it go unnoticed

[@Joshua_Hale]

@@epicgamernik76 Of course! How else would you eat it?

[@gabreel9233]

😂😂

[@morotr_co]

What impresses me even more than the evolution of spiders spinning silk? That someone was able to find and identify a single strand of fossilized silk. Some of these trace fossil discoveries are mind-boggling that we were able to not only find them, but also realize they weren’t just random bits of rock.

[@LimeyLassen]

Amber is such a gift to paleontology

[@morotr_co]

@@LimeyLassen How did I forget about amber? I guess seeing the spider fossil in stone made me assume the silk was in stone too. But other trace fossils like scrape marks are equally impressive that we can figure out that they were made by animals.

[@jourdansarpy4935]

Researchers are extremely thorough and patient people. When they get to a site, I’m sure they take their time and examine every square millimeter of dirt.

[@scalpingsnake]

Amber is amazing. When I first heard about tailed spiders I was like I bet they looked weird AND THEN WE SAW ONE BECAUSE AMBER WAS LIKE HERE YOU GO.

[@frenchys_prospecting]

I’m guessing the silk was first used to house its eggs/babies and it evolved from there. Sorry if this has already been said. I’ve not read any other comments

[@kaito2005]

As a web designer myself, I have to admit that this is really impressive.

[@Tony240zt]

😂

[@jalapenoandbanana]

Ik, spiders are so good at HTML and CSS

[@fireice8828]

@@jalapenoandbanana SPYDER*

[@Roboartist117]

Must have taken a colossal spider to make the world wide web

[@yourfriendlyneighbourhoodb7585]

@@Roboartist117 it was not a colossal spider,but a colossally smart spider. His name was…Tim Burners Bee

[@tkdyo]

The craziest ones to me are the ones that actually use it like a net and drop on prey with it. That is some next level evolution. To not only weave the complex web, but know how to actively hunt with it.

[@vaimantobe3034]

Ogre spiders come to mind. As do the spitting spiders

[@Thesnippyhippy]

@@vaimantobe3034 look up the bolas spider blew my mind learning about that guy

[@JustIn-sr1xe]

Essentially a fishing spider.

[@BuddyismyBaby]

I didn’t know there were so riders that did that, definitely gonna check it out now!!

[@Thesnippyhippy]

@@JustIn-sr1xe the diving bell spider check that sucker out actually lives under water

[@Neuralatrophy]

Another HUGE advantage of webbing, without the complex web, would be the drag line, greatly enhancing mobility. Spiders wouldn't be as subject to falling to the ground or catastrphically loosing footing when capturing prey via pounce and bite.

[@jacobostapowicz8188]

Speculative Gymnastics. Creation 100

[@neuswoesje590]

plus they can attach a line to a branch, walk back, jump off and go weeeee like a lil swing. scientific? maybe not, but I like to imagine that there was some play back then too

[@Neuralatrophy]

@@neuswoesje590 Technically they do that to a degree, they can lower themselves from one point to another, and, arguably a more sophisticated form of webbing, they can fly... by spinning long and light strands to catch the wind, smaller spiders can dispurse themselves via air currents.

[@bustavonnutz]

Their exoskeletons mostly negate almost any shock that would result from a fall though.

[@bugjams]

@@bustavonnutz Not completely true. Only very, very small arthropods like ants can negate most fall damage. Spiders are still susceptible to it. A tarantula can sustain serious injury and possibly death from falling just 3 feet for example. So a medium-sized spider and even some smaller spiders would still have to worry about falling, especially from heights such as treetops.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

I've wondered how insects developed a life strategy involving two completely different bodies - metamorphosis. The adult form arises from a couple of clumps of cells that during pupation essentially dissolve the larvae and use the result to build the adult animal. How much is known about how this process evolved?

[@nothingnobody1454]

And somehow retain memory after that transformation

[@BarnsOfChris]

Good idea

[@boyinblue.]

I'd like to know about this too, it's a very interesting process.

[@Jaxck77]

@@nothingnobody1454 That’s not clear

[@gamerghxst]

From Insects to Amphibians I’d love to know more about the evolution of metamorphosis in general.

[@SIK_Mephisto]

I like how you pointed out that the evolution of silk predates spiders as a good chunk of mites still possess silk production abilities

[@SpazzyMcGee1337]

Very interesting. I used to be afraid of spiders. I largely got over it when I realized my fear was more fundamentally a respect for spiders. They are amazing lifeforms.

[@boomerangfish3558]

its cool to twist your fear like that, you are very strong

[@lastEvergreen]

Spider hands typed this. Don’t be fooled!

[@nate1825]

yeah this is definitely a spider that posted this

[@jackback70]

I used to burn my house down when I saw a spider, now I want a Tarantula as a pet 😂 Fascinating creatures I also ran out of houses to burn down

[@victor7816]

I used to be afraid of spiders. I still am but I used to, too.

[@cybergothstudios94]

What if the original gene for silk production had more to do with being able to lay eggs on land? Early surface creatures that came from the water likely layed eggs in water, but the earliest spiders could have weaved nests. Perhaps it's a spinoff of crabs, since nature loves those things.

[@briankleinschmidt3664]

I live amongst them creatures, deep in the woods. I can tell you that they haven't evolved a web strong enough to trap me, but they're working on it.

[@thehellyousay]

And this was the last communication we received from the individual known only as briankleinschmidt3664. A small expedition mounted by a local troop of boyscouts, and a seriously angry mule named Bob, found no trace briakleinschmidt3664, but did return with some amazingly soft silk underwear ...

[@Ashgrey0]

​@@thehellyousayamazing imagery, and I need spider silk underwear rn

[@thesenate2656]

Now this is a topic I never, EVER thought about

[@feargripper]

Moth Light never flops!!!!

[@N238E]

Oddly enough, I was wondering this the other night at 3am.

[@Celebratory_Diaper]

@@N238E same here XD

[@lpkdm]

Me either but I’m excited to find out lol

[@tristancoetzee6059]

This was amazing! I'm an art student in high school and for my final artwork I need to prepare a journal for it. In said journal there need to be spider facts and just things about spiders. With the sources I can make a couple pages of spider history! This came at am AMAZING time!

[@oriricha]

Best of luck to you, friend. I’m on a similar journey

[@tristancoetzee6059]

@@oriricha As to you! Procrastination is gonna be the death of me 😂😂

[@tristancoetzee6059]

@The Philosoraptor I feel like I know u from a discord server... or multiple 😱

[@north6star]

You should stick around , this channel is pretty dope

[@BugsandBiology]

Informative videos about spiders that aren't pure fearmongering are few and far between. Really appreciate this channel!

[@adscomics]

Spiders are fascinating creatures. There's a spider that recently build this massive web on the corner of my garage door. It's been destroyed twice so far, but the spider rebuilt it each time. Their ingenuity is honestly incredible. They're the only pest that I actually try to capture and safely relocate outside of my home. Since, unlike bugs that get in my house, at least spiders perform a service.

[@dickesbrot5724]

Spiders are not pest since they eat all the real pest like flys and mosquitos. I also never kill them, just relocate.

[@adscomics]

@@dickesbrot5724 You're right, pest was a poor word. Basically what I meant was that, if I see bugs in my house, I usually kill them, but since I have a lot of respect for spiders, I try to relocate them.

[@chantelstenner2553]

@@adscomics soms other bugs like beetles, lady bugs, even some flies, and even wasps and native bees all provide services to their environment. Either as food for the spiders or other predators, pollinators or eating smaller pests themselves. Every animal has their place. Like even mosquito's and house flies are pollinators and also help to keep predators fed. I think it's best to avoid killing anything in your house unless it's an invasive species or something that's damaging the environment.

[@JohnSmithEx]

@@chantelstenner2553 Have you ever thought that the invasive species in your house that damages the environment, is yourself?

[@norten76]

@@chantelstenner2553 "I think it's best to avoid killing anything in your house unless it's an invasive species or something that's damaging the environment." That is a bit too idealistic. Mosquitos, flies can spread all sorts of diseases, never mind being incredibly annoying/irritating. It is perfectly acceptable to keep your home safe and comfortable and if it means exterminating all those things you mentioned, so be it. I am yet to meet a person that hunts down every ladybug, or bee they see inside, nobody however just ignores some pesky fly, or mosquito which is actively going after their blood, or food. Most people are capable of distinguishing between genuinely harmless and harmful creatures they meet on a daily basis. We are also part of nature you see and our needs and preferences are just as valid as that of the mosquito that is trying to sink its mouthpiece into our bloodvessels.

[@nicks1451]

Speaking of New Zealand, the worst job I ever had was power washing legions of spiderwebs off of a home because they’re so numerous there they can cocoon an entire home. Like the whole home is white in silk. Also, I know what it’s like to feel thousands of spiders raining down on me.

[@sneauxday7002]

I would have literally burned the house down i dont know how you do it... nightmare fuel

[@szithaanu9934]

Last week the dog rubbed against a garden spider's web and partially destroyed it. Within a minute the spider was repairing the damage. It was fascinating to watch the spider go about repairing the web. How something so small has the knowledge and instinct to create something so complex is amazing.

[@davidduck9148]

Thank you for including the names of the artists and Paleoartists that contributed. It helps us to connect to one another, people to see who creates this wonderful art, and lets scientists and researchers know that it is important to cite those examples and respect those artists that aid them in their work. Thank you again

[@anteriax5175]

Weirdly enough i was thinking of this topic just a few days back when i was considering how keratin is used for hair, nails, shells, beaks, feathers, claws and scales in tetrapods. Thanks for the video, perfect timing!

[@vsaw1]

Big fan here, you are my favorite evolution channel on youtube! This isn't a correction as much as it is just a cool little tidbit I'm not surprised you were unaware of when putting this vid together. So at 4:42 you say spiders are the only animals that use their silk to make complex structures, but there are actually several species of caddisflies in the family Hydropsychidae that spin debris-catching nets as aquatic larvae. They feed on the organic materials carried by stream currents which get caught in said nets. I just did a quick google image search and several of these nets are highly organized, resembling a chain link fence or fishing net material. There are also some caterpillars in the family Urodidae that spin these trippy cages of hardened silk in which to pupate, which I would consider very geometric and complex.

[@uprightape100]

As for earliest arachnids, scorpions say “Hold my beer.”. Edit: the Arizona monsoon is especially wet this year and scorpions are frickin raging. With a black-light torch (they're strictly nocturnal), you'll find one scorpion every five meters in any direction.

[@xenomorphoverlord]

Iirc, holding a blacklight over a scorpion actually stresses them out, as it makes them think it's day or something like that

[@uprightape100]

@@xenomorphoverlord Bullshit. Scorpions are practically blind. Don't believe bullshit, my gullible friend, and don't troll my comments, either.

[@thomasevans3387]

Complex webs are also made by insect groups as well. Many Trichopterans spin extremely complex silk webs which they use to fish with (if you are interested there are excellent pictures of Hydropsyche webs on Google). It may be that in the terrestrial habitat spiders occupied this niche early, and that later groups did not have an opportunity to exploit it. Let me also add, that the evolution of spider webs could have been ground up, with species making more and more arboreal webs later. As you pointed out, modern primitive spiders are ground dwelling and do use silk to varying degrees. Our early knowledge about insect flight is extremely limited, but presumably they used it mostly to hop, skip, and jump around, not long flights like we think of. The other thing to keep in mind about this is that there were no trees, so most things were happening at much lower levels. Later as trees grew up and insects appear to have followed spiders may also have gone up with the trees, in a sense being lifted into the air by the vertically expanding ecosystems. This is a nice video thinking about an important group, thank you for posting it.

[@robrice7246]

Some spiders use their webs to catch vertebrae prey (birds and bats).

[@Ptrrrrrrrr]

Thank you! I requested this topic a while back, because it was truly mysterious to me. Now it makes more sense: first eggs, then traps, then complexity through the arms race. Hope you keep making these videos!

[@FalandraAoC]

I find it fascinating how spiders spin their webs. On my balcony I observed a spider spin her web, she made such a nice shape and I loved seeing how intricate her work was with the smaller and smaller spaces towards the middle. Master craftsmanship! Years ago I wasn't a fan of spiders at all, probably even scared but somehow, the Arachne myth from ancient greek mythology made me appreciate them and their webs, because it's actually a quiet sad story with a somewhat beautiful (yet still sad) ending. I always think of it when seeing a spider make her web 🙂

[@PhoenicopterusR]

Then you have spiders that make tangle webs, very messy but almost a DnD-esque level of trap.

[@Eye_Exist]

Your channel is pure diamond, sir. Each and every video is solid S tier.

[@supaspydamn]

What a fascinating video! Thank you

[@lennonjohn2]

You’re videos are amazing and I’m always pumped when I see a new one. Keep up the great work!

[@jsubb4680]

More videos these are so good! Keep up the amazing work. I live the short length of the videos as well as the depth of the material. It really feels like stepping into little snippets of time.

[@jourdansarpy4935]

I haven't even watched the video yet, but I already know it's gonna be great and informative. Thanks for the work Moth Light. Please keep making these so I can keep watching them.

[@gfxb3177]

Damn I really shouldn't go into computer science. Web development takes millions of years to learn

[@pavel9652]

Just entangle code from silk overflow (not silk road) ;)

[@molycow]

Amazing vid, as always. Keep up the great work!

[@LordBLB]

I would think that spinning silk evolved first as a way to create and protect egg sacks. If I had to guess, it was sort of like how caterpillars create a cocoon. I was simply a way to protect their eggs. Eventually, they used it on the ground to catch things. Eventually moving upwards to catch bugs in flight. Of course, this would have happened over many many many generations. But, that's just my guess.

[@assassinsblade1463]

Weather proofing eggs as well and perhaps they needed it to attach their eggs to things at the time

[@geordiedog1749]

Great video. Also, as well as a fascinating topic, excellently researched and written, your presentation, diction etc is really good, too! nice one:)

[@LimeyLassen]

I love how open some of these questions still are. Like what body part did insect wings derive from? It's still debated!

[@jamesoshea4702]

Ears.

[@jamesoshea4702]

Ears.

[@jacobostapowicz8188]

Creationism is a closed debate. Evolution is the epitome of magic

[@bugjams]

It's debated, but pretty much only between "shoulder knobs" and gills. Gills would've already been flat and filled with vessels. Shoulder knobs may have gotten larger and flatter, allowing for heat absorption or simple gliding, before flight.

[@bugjams]

@@jacobostapowicz8188 Wrong. "Magic" is a word used by stupid people to describe things they lack the motivation to understand. Also, the irony of a Creationist who believes in giant men in the sky and talking snakes complaining about magic. Amazing.

[@FFNOJG]

you are the best paleontology channel on youtube. thank you so very much for what you do man.

[@leeham6230]

How crazy is it that spiders make web traps using their silk glands? It's such a common thing that we take for granted, but what a phenomenon!

[@ewnard2005]

I feel like netcatching evolved from making doorway traps to wrap and see smaller prey passing their hole. Then netcatching moved out of the hole and became more specialized, branching into various more passive styles in trees

[@north6star]

Even crazier when you think about how all it took was 4 key elements and a relatively short amount of time to go from globs of goo to 8 leg, web spinning demons with venom and flying goo-filled robots to feed them.

[@aethlred7380]

And just think. There are Red Dwarfs that last hundreds of billions of years before dying. Our sun will swallow the earth relatively shortly on a universal time scale. Meanwhile there are planets that have orbited Red Dwarfs since they formed so that's possibly ten billions of years of evolution. Imagine what a society living there could do. Having a stable home world for a hundred billion years you could become a god to most civilizations. We are a few hundred thousand years old and have conquered this planet and been to the moon. Our society is around 20 thousand years old. There has to be planets with societies millions or billions of years old. There's probably a civilization that has already conquered is galaxy or multiple galaxies. We're cosmological babies we just haven't found the giants yet.

[@krkrbbr]

"a relatively short amount of time"

[@ethanlke7641]

@@krkrbbr 😑😐

[@ethanlke7641]

@@krkrbbr uuuuvvu

[@ethanlke7641]

@@krkrbbr uuuuvvuu

[@stefanottomanski]

What a great video. A subject I had not ever thought about much before, now brought to me with such clarity. Fascinating. Thank you

[@ProximaCentauri88]

I've been waiting for this! Thanks a lot!

[@Alfwin]

All this about web evolution is fascinating, sure, but my main takeaway from this video is that the spider at 0:31 is _absolutely adorable_ ! Just look at those big shiny eyes and that fuzzy lil face!

[@drawingmomentum]

It's Charlotte ❤ 😍 💖

[@WesselStoop]

Funny how the terms 'web development' and 'web design' mean something completely different to me ;)

[@bamibrick6575]

Again awesome video ! Thankyou

[@kingofmemes5017]

These videos are brilliant

[@shoogles_]

Oh my god, I have literally been googling this exact question on and off the past few months, yaaaasssss

[@thundercactus]

A spider with a long prehensile tail. That, sir, is a FACE HUGGER.

[@inutero3516]

Maybe the alien movies were recorded in the carboniferous era? massive lore moment?

[@asagillespie4588]

I never even thought about this before, thank you for expanding my mind with this video!

[@FeatheredCreature]

Oh neat, i was actually kinda thinking about this recently! Learning how stuff evolved is really cool

[@stax6092]

Awesome. More Scorpion stuff please. Like Venom tails instead of other parts.

[@krishnak2432]

I miss old background score man

[@jamesraymond1158]

Amazing photography and art and narration. So well done, such talent! What amazes me is that spiders can change the chemical composition of the silk for radial lines, concentric lines and the strong drag lines that blow 20 feet across a creek to make huge webs.

[@MiaMooreA]

Thank God for this video, I was not itchy at all and now every sensation feels like a spider. Why am I like this?

[@AngryMothNoises]

FINALLY! Been waiting for someone to talk about the evo of spiders. I love spiders.

[@OldieBugger]

Thanks for this interesting video, although I couldn't watch it, due to my arachnofobia. But I was able to listen to it!

[@bgbthabun627]

me too!

[@JeffCharleson]

Great video, lots of information. Learned lots, thought the video would be over soon, was only half way. Keep it up.

[@sadboijokes]

It is absolutely mind boggling to think about how vastly different the planet was millions of years ago. Like hearing “there were only 21 hours in the day” is so insane. Goodness.

[@JerehmiaBoaz]

Spiders aren't just locked into an evolutionary arms race to build better webs with insects but amongst themselves also. Since building webs is their way of acquiring food, a more efficient web is a direct competitive advantage against other spiders and their own species most of all, because the spider that gets the most food on average is healthier, has a better chance of reproducing successfully and has healthier offspring.

[@mrdgenerate]

Insert obligatory "have to be up in the morning but instead im learning about the evolution of spider webs at 2am" comment here 👇

[@martensamulowitz347]

soothing voice and great illustrations! great video

[@andreafranceschini3889]

Always love your video, but this was a particularly interesting one!

[@kencalvelo6007]

Would love to see how parasites came to be. I always wonder how some organisms evolve to depend on another organism parasitically.

[@_Wombat]

I was reading about gall wasps the other day. Did you know there are parasites who parasitise the parisites who parasitise the parasites who parasitise beech/oak trees? That's like, 3 different levels of parasitising, and a mouthful. (technical terms are hyperparasitoid > parasitoid > parasite > host). Insane.

[@thomasfplm]

Probably they started as non obligatory parasites.

[@Vineor]

Cool it with the anti semitic remarks.

[@mohawk4759]

what

[@Vineor]

@@mohawk4759 you'll get it when you're older

[@dinaryunus9131]

I wonder if giant dragonfly called "Meganeura" from Carboniferous were Spider's prey too Imagine how large the web needs for Spider to catch them xD

[@Sattelhammr]

Spiders are an amazing design.

[@adorableinsect]

Absolutely love educational arthropod videos. Please keep them coming!

[@asdfhuliashduflasihf]

Great video. One minor quibble: at 8:18, that is an owl butterfly, not a moth.

[@mstalcup]

Butterflies descended from moths, therefore they are moths.

[@WaterShowsProd]

@@mstalcup Butterflies did evolve from moths, but as I understand it: the group Moth contains all Lepidoptera that are not members of the Butterfly clade.

[@roachdoggjr1940]

@@mstalcup humans evolved from dimetrodon. Therefore, we are dimetrodon.

[@mstalcup]

@@roachdoggjr1940 Humans did not evolve from dimetrodon, even though both are synapsids. So humans are not dimetrodon. However, it would not be wrong to say that humans and dimetrodon are both part of a larger clade descended from lobe-finned fish. An organism is always part of every clade its ancestors were part of.

[@--Paws--]

Spider mites, another arachnid, also produce silk. Nature always seems to show creatures to behave or do certain things for one purpose but by coincidence this adaptation benefits them in another. What if spiders back then were just making elaborate webs for some other reason but it helped catch flying insects. It might be just another courtship display and yet also works as trap for their prey.

[@pattonramming1988]

I thought the same thing yet we see another example of a trait that existed for a single purpose be repurposed for another function

[@mickwayne3398]

first thing i thought of was the lifeline silk that spiders spin to help them when they fall as the beginning of it all. then something walks across the lifeline and the spider feels it and doubles back to eat it.. over time that gets more complex into a tunnel web to spread vibrations over an area etc

[@--Paws--]

@@mickwayne3398 That's seems more conclusive to how they might have developed it. The ogre spiders/net casting spiders however doesn't seem to be on this path since they actively make a web to catch with. There is also another spider, can't remember its name, they are blind and live in Southeast Asia. They make webs that are poisonous. This one seems to be for defensive purposes. It's a small spider.

[@Cranndaddy]

I USED TO WATCH ALL YOUR VIDEOS AND I LITERALLY JUST TYPED THIS EXACT TITLE INTO KZbin AND YOU HAD A VIDEO WORD FOR WORD MATCHING IT. we are made for eachother Ty xx

[@mn-ru4li]

This was very good. Thank you.

[@SilverScarletSpider]

What if I told you that spider webs evolved from blood, much like most human bodily fluids

[@Goldkeeper08]

So basicly i shit out *webs*?

[@Redbeardblondie]

Did the venom in scorpions and spiders silk both evolve from a protein in blood due to being used as a defensive mechanism of the “tail?”

[@LimeyLassen]

@@Redbeardblondie I love the implication that primitive scorpions sprayed irritating blood, or that horned lizards will one day have venom glands in their eyes

[@themushroominside6540]

@@LimeyLassen only if there is selective pressure to so so, their blood already tastes terrible so it might be spiked with something more volitile.

[@cameron.t]

@@LimeyLassen Or that horned lizards will shoot webs. 😂💀

[@dmitrimikrioukov5935]

Silk-weaving can't just appear. It has to develop slowly generation after generation. But if you can't use silk, what is the purpose for these originally minor mutations to get passed on?

[@pattonramming1988]

Perhaps as a mating display?

[@captainnyet9855]

Protecting eggs and pupae doesn't require silk; they would simply have a less effective protective material that becomes more complex over time.

[@pattonramming1988]

@@captainnyet9855 I said it might have been part of a mating display what does that have to do with the structure of spider eggs?

[@neilhyland2409]

Eggs held together in silk eggsacks may have had an evolutionary advantage since they're less exposed to the elements. Silk could be used as a bungee cord to avoid death when jumping at prey. Strands could dangle in high traffic areas and catch bugs. Silk threads can be used as a parachute in order to travel long distances in the wind. Those are my theories at least. It's all behavior that spiders we see today perform.

[@kiri101]

@@neilhyland2409 Iirc the whole 'spiderlings traveling on a silk line in the breeze' thing was discovered to be more about electrostatic forces of the exuded silk rather than it forming something like a parachute. But overall yeah, I agree, lots of 'simple' uses for silk before complex behaviours like webbing emerge.

[@Machingonjoe]

Great video as always

[@princeninurta5767]

Love your videos, thank you! Your voice and wording are excellent! Introduction, information and music are excellent!

[@puretootowsandfor1761]

Haven’t watched the vid yet but I know it’s gonna be a banger

[@android584]

It's cool seeing how industrious spiders can be when they fastidiously spin a new web daily after dusk. I try to avoid breaking a spider's web when I'm out on nighttime walks, knowing how much work they put into them.

[@ecurewitz]

Spiders have been web designers long before the internet ever existed

[@Dankehum]

Since watching Spider Man 1 at the cinema with my family back when i was 5 years old, I’ve been obsessed with spiders, mainly tarantulas throughout my whole life. I love spider informative content, this was awesome.

[@scalpingsnake]

Evolution is just so fascinating. I know it's a "short span of time" is often relative when it comes to evolution but I do wonder what exactly we think it would have looked like in terms of the step they went through to go from producing silk to making complex webs.

[@Fix-it-tony]

Finally the first comment, great video

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Ngl I really love these videos, can't wait to see more Hope you have a great day

[@emadhabibi6171]

Amazing, thanks for creating such an instructive content. Keep it up!

[@AsifTown]

You are so informative and engaging. There is one thing I want to learn, how venom (not symbiote) evolved, which is the first animal to use venom etc…

[@williambrandondavis6897]

Good question. Maybe from the Paleozoic era. Urchins, corals and jelly fish existed then but I don’t know if they were venomous.

[@loucam-l6214]

Not me having a laugh at the creationists in the comments

[@FakeMoonRocks]

I'm laughing at the notion of forests 300 million years ago resembling modern day rainforests. People will accept that massive creatures like Dreadnoughtus existed, but they also believe they walked among relatively tiny trees the size of what we have today. Meanwhile, there's evidence of massive fossilized trees with large cellular structure that mainstream science writes off as natural geological formations, the result of molten rock ejecting from the Earth's crust and cooling in such a way as to create the column structures that would be the truck of large tree species. Somewhere in the mythology of it all lies the truth. Devil's Tower, Wyoming. It's the petrified stump of a once tall, maybe sprawling, or both, giant tree. I don't buy their mainstream explanation.

[@loucam-l6214]

@@FakeMoonRocks y'know, if you're so convinced that evolutionary biologists have it all wrong, maybe you should study to become one. As of right now, research in evolutionary biology doesn't care about your opinion.

[@FakeMoonRocks]

Except I said no such thing. Interesting that you get to say that about me, but my comment doesn't appear. Zero context with this thread now. My comment went beyond evolutionary biology. It included geology. The challenge is to geologists to show a modern example of molten rock behaving the way they claim it did.

[@loucam-l6214]

@@FakeMoonRocks sucks to suck. No but really lol its a huge bug in youtube comments to have replies not appear, been happening for a short while.

[@FakeMoonRocks]

@@loucam-l6214 It's a problem, because now someone can run with this claiming I had some kind of fundamental objection to your original comment, paint me as a crazy, zealot who thinks the planet is 6,000 years old. I had to look that up to find what their general consensus is. S I X thousand. Unbelievable.

[@RinpochesRose]

I love these videos. Nicely made, relaxing, interesting, calmly and tastefully spoken voice and excellent images and sound. What’s not to love ? 🙂

[@vissengek]

What really freaks me out about web weaving, is that it isn't learned behavior. Spider parents don't teach how to weave a web, so the behavior must be encoded genetically. If you can encode complex behavior like that, what else is encoded in our own bodies?

[@tobiasware]

Excellent information. I'd like to see more on the evolution of web types and uses.

[@jeffagain7516]

They actually discovered a prehistoric spider web in amber. That blows me away on so many levels! Thanks again Moth!

[@MadMatt13]

Great video as ever. Have you ever considered doing a longer video every so often for certain subjects? I would love to see one sometime.

[@antonsilling3919]

Love your Videos

[@frostyglass3738]

Thank you Papa, I appreciate your efforts in these turbulent times. Be blessed and continue on!

[@shawnohagan5503]

Great video

[@thommyneter168]

One of your best! Very interesting

[@rhobot75]

What a unique topic! Thank you!!

[@ahdr8852]

Amazing vid bro

[@andrewrichards9513]

Amazing 👏 KZbin needs more channels like this

[@J1ngzz]

Fascinating stuff, keep it up!

[@ElEcodelTren]

This is exactly what i was looking for, thank you

[@atomspalter2090]

I love this channel!

[@glenngilbert7389]

Superbly presented - I love the accessibility of your videos and your delivery is excellent.

[@maxzytaruk8558]

Learning about the Prototaxides fungi was super cool too!

[@CalebKallimanis-le4zz]

Very interesting thank you!! Can’t wait for the next video