What happens when an insect touches a spider’s web? Most web-spinning spiders line their silken threads with droplets of glue, which snag blundering insects. But one group—the cribellate ...

An analysis of one such spider shows it uses its legs to pick up the sound of flying insects, before throwing a net-like web over the unsuspecting animal. Dangling upside down from its simple web ...

There, the caterpillar lurks, waiting to prey on insects stuck in the web while masking its scent and texture with leftovers from the spider’s meals and skin shed by its eight-legged landlord.

The study also found that the insect prefers to break the threads when it is windy, perhaps because the wind impairs the spider’s ability to detect vibrations coming from the insect, Soley says.

A "bone collector" caterpillar sits in a cobweb with a spider and its egg sac. The newly discovered moth species disguises itself as a larva by covering itself with insect parts. Daniel Rubinoff ...