Spectacular Silks: 10 Types of Spiderwebs

Most people have an innate fear of spiders. Whether it is the fast crawling or the horrifying appearance, it is indisputable that they make some of the prettiest homes on the planet — spiderwebs. These immaculate creations are some of the most terrifying traps and picturesque sites. There are many types of spiderwebs among the spider families. These are the main varieties, and how can we identify them in the wild?

1. Spiral Orbs

These are one of the most common types of spiderwebs. They are circular in shape with a noticeable center. Spokes radiate from it with angular lines connecting perpendicularly. It looks like a spiral shape until you look closer. 

They are flat but versatile, hanging flat between two tree branches above one another or floating in house corners. Most spider families that make these webs use a silk thread and glue-like substance to make them sturdy yet deadly to anything flying in their path. Garden orb-weavers are a popular variety known for creating these intricate structures.

2. Tangle Webs or Cobwebs

Tangle webs are likely the other most common type of spiderweb. Also known as cobwebs, they look like a light, fluffy jumble of threads. They are messy with a minimal structure. Their appearance is enhanced by how easily they collect dust. Unlike the spiral orbs, they are three-dimensional. As soft as they are, they are still good at meeting the spider’s nutritional needs.

3. Funnel Webs

Species like the labyrinth spider make a fitting home for itself. The web looks like a cyclone of silk with an eye in the center. You’ll most likely find these in low grasses. Some house spiders also make these deep inside nooks and crannies, using the hole in the cylinder as a walking path. Funnel-weaving spiders in Australia and Brazil are venomous, so if you see them nearby, walk in the opposite direction.

4. Triangle Webs

This web variant is unique to the Hyptiotes paradoxus. It is as if you took a triangle out of a traditional orb web. It has several threads going longways and many smaller, shorter pieces between each of those structural silks. Instead of letting prey fly into it, the spider uses the triangle more strategically. It sits and pulls the threads tightly until something comes nearby. Then, the spider releases the web, and it tightens around them.

5. Sheets

You may have seen sheet webs in bushes or in dense trees. From a distance, it can look like cotton filling from a stuffed animal. Upon closer inspection, they are delicate, silky beds acting like netting to catch unsuspecting insects. The web’s structures look chaotic compared to the intricacies of orb or triangle spiders. It is thick enough for the spider to lie beneath the web, essentially waiting for dinner to fall into its mouth.

6. Mesh Webs

These are like cobwebs in appearance. They are thin, chaotic-looking webs, but they are more common outside. You can usually find these near rocks and under thick vegetation, where they can easily flourish. Typically, they are closer to the ground to catch land-dwelling prey. 

7. Purse Webs

Purse webs are exclusive to the purse web spider. It digs underneath the soil, burrowing until it creates a tunnel. Then, it lines the walls of this hole with its web. This makes this predator a master of stealth, as its deadliest weapon — the web cave — gets hidden underneath dirt and debris. It is the perfect disguise. 

The spider rests in a sealed section of its home aboveground. It waits until something walks across the den. Then, it pierces through the underlayer and brings it inside. Fortunately, it can always repair its home with a bit more thread.

8. Communal Webs

This is not necessarily a specific type of spiderweb, but more of a phenomenon. Most of the time, spiders spin their webs alone. On rare occasions, they can make something haunting yet beautiful together in the form of a communal web. It is very rare for spiders to exhibit social behaviors like this, but it seems to be in specialized circumstances.

For example, Sindh, Pakistan, experienced intense floods in 2010 after a monsoon. It caused a mass migration of spiders to a group of trees, which became completely enveloped in tree-sized webs.

Brazil also saw strange spiderwebs in 2013 and 2019. Hundreds of spiders threaded webs together between trees that were nearly impossible to see. People dubbed the occurrence raining spiders, as it seemed like they were floating in the air.

9. Radial Webs

These are similar to funnel webs because they have a cylindrical tunnel where the spider can hide. However, it features a more explosive exterior. At the end of the tunnel, the spider places long, stringy threads. 

Once something crosses them, it alerts the spider within to come out and pounce. It is like crossing an infrared laser to catalyze a trap. The spider varieties that use this setup have unique legs, which make them great for this positioning. These include the Segestriidae family.

10. Lace Webs

Lace webs look like netting and they are made by the cribellate spider. It has a wooly appearance compared to a glue-like silk. It is noticeable because of its bluish tint when newly constructed. These spiders wait in the center of their structured yet untidy home, waiting for food to appear. 

The Most Important Types of Spiderwebs in Nature

Many may assume spiders create the same types of spiderwebs no matter what species they are. In fact, they are diverse in appearance and structure. Some glow under sunlit dewdrops while others embrace a more dusty vibe in a house’s forgotten corners. Whether you’re afraid of spiders or are morbidly curious, these are some of the most fascinating structures in the animal kingdom because of their delicacy and deadliness.