Animation of web building in Araneus diadematus

This animation shows an exemplary orb-web construction of Araneus diadematus in the laboratory. The animation is based on recorded moves of the spider, with the threads reconstructed from those moves and from the photograph of the finished web. It is a slightly simplified account of a web construction selected for its simplicity; early stages (exploration phase) are highly variable and usually more complicated than the ones shown here (Zschokke 1996), the later stages are always quite predictable.

During the first stage of this animation, each frame of the exploration phase represents a variable amount of time. During radii construction and auxiliary spiral construction, each frame represents 5 seconds; during sticky spiral construction each frame represents 15 seconds.

Another page of mine shows selected frames of this web construction in better quality. Check also my spider web gallery to find out how other spiders build their webs.

This animation was also shown in the exhibition Animals as Master Builders of the Natural History Museum Berne (Switzerland), which was on display from 1998-2006.