Zebra Tarantula
A study published in 2006 had suggested the zebra tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni) could shoot silk threads from its feet, ala Spider Man. But repeats of that experiment, along with new studies, suggest that's not the case. In fact, even spigots on the tarantula's feet do secrete silk, some scientists think the material is used fors chemosensory functions.
Uphill Climb
Fernando Pérez-Miles, of the University of the Republic in Uruguay, and his team tested out tarantulas' superhero abilities on vertical glass slides. The team shook the slides to see if the hairy spiders would extrude silk from their feet to stop themselves from falling; they found when the silk-shooting abdominal spinnerets were sealed the spiders didn't leave any silk threads behind, suggesting that the spiders can only secrete silk from their spinnerets and not their feet.
Spindly Spigots
Spindly ribbed structures found on the feet of tarantulas (called foot spigots) looked nothing like the spigots that shoot out spider silk, scientists have found. That suggests the foot spigots are used as some sort of sensory hairs.
Structure Comparison
Spindly ribbed structures found on the feet of tarantulas (called foot spigots) looked nothing like the spigots that shoot out spider silk, scientists have found. That suggests the foot spigots are used as some sort of sensory hairs.
Sealed Spinnerets
When researchers sealed the tarantula's silk-spinning abdominal organs (the spinnerets) with paraffin, they didn't see any silk residues left on the glass where the spiders were placed.
How Spiders Taste
Typical chemosensory hair that "tastes" for spiders.
