uloborus female 2012-CSC 2795

This is a spider called Uloborus, or the feather legged spider (only the female has the feathery front legs). Uloborus are unique among spiders as they have no venom glands and cannot poison their prey, which they kill by wrapping in silk and crushing. These are 'cribellate' or hackled orb spiders- the silk of the web is pulled out over a special organ called a calamistrum which makes the silk “wooly”. Insects become stuck on the fine wooly fibres rather than on glue globs that are found on most webs.