Scientists have just figured out how these crafty spiders know exactly when it’s time to launch themselves and their web toward prey. Researchers at the University of Akron in Ohio conducted the ...

Scientists have finally figured out how slingshot spiders know exactly when to fire their webs toward their prey.

In Ukraine, people usually remove spiders and their webs from their homes. However, Christmas brings a surprising twist ...

Slingshot spiders (Theridiosoma gemmosum) don’t just passively wait for their prey to find its way into their web. Instead, they take action. These arachnids–also called ray spiders–pull the center of ...

Credit: S.I. Han and T.A. Blackledge, 2024. Ray spiders deploy an unusual strategy to capture prey in their webs. They essentially pull it back into a cone shape and release it when prey ...

Slingshot, or ray spiders (Theridiosoma gemmosum) pull the center of their flat web back, to form a cone with the spider at the tip, keeping the net in place by holding on to a taut anchor thread.

HAN: They would release their webs from much farther away. So the ray spiders will release their webs in response to airborne prey vibrations. DANIEL: Determining both the direction and distance ...

These spiders pull the center of their webs back so that it’s primed to fire like a slingshot when a mosquito is in range, and it seems they know when to do so by listening out for the sound.

Researchers have uncovered a unique hunting strategy of a slingshot spider or ray spider (Theridiosoma gemmosum). These stealthy hunters launch their "ballistic web" at unsuspecting prey.