Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning

Friday morning, I was walking back from Chinatown, and taking the short cut beside Block B and the kids school. On the side of the drive are some bushes and in the bushes was the web of Gasteracantham mammosa, the first that I've seen in Singapore. There was a gentle breeze so focus was a challenge. I got to her place Sat morning about 7:30 and she was weaving her web. Here she is extruding silk

Extruding 2 strands

Extruding

Resting

A closer look

Her web. I dusted it with talcum power to make the web more obvious. Her web had two components, an inner orb web and an out structure consisting of individual strands with Stabilimenta spaced at regular intervals. You can see one strand in the lower right pointed diagonally up. The larger segments of white that are regularly spaced are the stabilimenta

Another view

A close look at a stabilmenta - its a tangle of loose silk placed around the primary strand

A closer look at the central core

C. Frank Starmer

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