Scientists recently proposed that some spiders are able to spin silk from their legs (tarsi) to hang onto slippery surfaces. The claim was disputed, but now it has been proven.
Like all spiders, tarantulas (family Theraphosidae) synthesize silk in specialized glands and extrude it from spinnerets on their abdomen. In one species of large tarantula, Aphonopelma seemanni, it has been suggested that silk can also be secreted from the tarsi but this claim was later refuted. We provide evidence of silk secretion directly from spigots (nozzles) on the tarsi of three distantly related tarantula species: the Chilean rose, Grammostola rosea; the Indian ornamental, Poecilotheria regalis; and the Mexican flame knee, Brachypelma auratum, suggesting tarsal silk secretion is widespread among tarantulas. We demonstrate that multiple strands of silk are produced as a footprint when the spider begins to slip down a smooth vertical surface.
Slipping and falling would be fatal to a tarantula, so the silk from their legs is given as an example of a control developed for survival.
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