Order Embiidina/Embioptera (Webspinners) in the Christopher B. Smith Preserve

Order Embiidina / Embioptera Characteristics: An online website by North Carolina State University reports there are only three families of webspinners in North America and 8 worldwide. This source reports 9 species in North America and ~200 worldwide. Another websource reports more that 360 species worldwide have been described, with estimates that there are about 2000 species in existence today. Found on every continent except Antarctica, with the highest density and diversity of species in the tropics and subtropical climates.

This small group of insects spin silk from structures on their front legs, creating web-like tunnels in which to live. Body shape is long, cylindrical in females, flattened in males, narrow, and flexible. Compound eyes are kidney-shaped. They lack ocelli; antennae are long with up to 32 segments. Legs are short. The first pair of legs has an enlarged last segment, which contains the silk-producing glands. Both adults and larvae can produce silk from their enlarged forelimbs. The galleries and tunnels woven from the silk help maintain moisture and offer protection from predators.

The abdomen has 10 segments with a pair of cerci on the final segment. Cerci are sensitive to touch. Females and nymphs are wingless; adult males can be winged or wingless, depending on the species. The head of a female has projecting mouthparts with chewing mandibles. Males use their mandible-like appendages to hold onto the female during copulation; males do not eat. Because morphology is so similar between species, identification is extremely difficult and is sometimes determined by the shape of the male genitalia.

After mating, a female will lay a single batch of eggs inside her silk gallery. Eggs hatch into nymphs that look like small wingless adults. After parental care (including in some species the mother guarding and feeding her offspring chewed-up leaf litter and other foods), the nymphs moult into several instars before emerging as full grown adults. Some females produce viable offspring without having fertilized eggs. Nymphs and adult females are herbivorous, feeding on leaf litter, moss, bark, and lichens. They extend their galleries into new food sources and the galleries continue to grow in size.

Interactions in the Smith Preserve: Embiopterans seldom produce large populations and probably play a minor role in food chains. As decomposers of leaf litter, they help recycle nutrients.

Family	Species Name	Common Name
Unknown	Unknown	Webspinner
Unknown	Unknown	Webspinner

Unknown Species Webspinner The first two photographs show the dorsal and ventral images of a 5-mm long webspinner collected in leaf litter under a citrus tree in the cabbage palm/ oak hammock in the northeast corner of the Smith Preserve on December 19, 2014. It was isolated from the leaf litter using a Berlese funnel. These photographs were produced using photomicroscopy. On January 12, 2015, its identification was confirmed from these photographs by Ken Wolgemuth, Contributing Editor of <BugGuide.net>, sponsored by Iowa State University Department of Entomology. The next two photographs show the dorsal and ventral images of a 3-mm long webspinner collected in the same leaf litter sample as the individual above. It was also isolated from the leaf litter using a Berlese funnel and photographs were produced using photomicroscopy. Its identification was confirmed from these photographs as a webspinner "youngster" on January 12, 2015 by "v belov", Contributing Editor of <BugGuide.net>, sponsored by Iowa State University Department of Entomology. It is unknown for sure whether the two individuals are the same species, but it is likely they are because they were both collected in the same leaf litter sample and were likely occupying the same silk tunnel. Webspinners live gregariously within these silken tunnels. Nymphs and adults are similar in appearance, and both rarely leave their tunnels. A colony grows by expanding its tunnel system to new food resources.  Well-developed muscles in the hind legs of webspinners allow them to run backward through their tunnels as easily as they run forward. Return to top

 

 

Unknown Species Webspinner On January 13, 2017, as the Conservancy science volunteer team was removing exotics along the southern gopher tortoise fence adjacent to 14th Ave N, a mass of nesting material was retrieved from vines. The nesting material consisted of Serenoa repens (Saw Palmetto) fibers. The fibers were collected in a gallon bag and placed in a Berlese funnel to isolate invertebrates from the fibers. One of the invertebrates was this 5.5 mm male webspinner. The sex of the individual is apparent because it has wings. Only males have wings. These photographs were created using photomicroscopy and sent for identification to <BugGuide.net>, sponsored by Iowa State University's Department of Entomology. To date, the individual has not been further identified. Return to top

 

© Photographs and text by Susan Leach Snyder (Conservancy of Southwest Florida Volunteer), unless otherwise credited above.

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