Darwin's Bark Spider Spins Silk 10 Times Tougher Than Kevlar as Webs Span 25 Meters
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 23
Darwin's Bark Spider Spins Silk 10 Times Tougher Than Kevlar as Webs Span 25 Meters
2 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 23
Summary
Darwin’s bark spider in Madagascar produces the toughest biological material yet measured, with dragline silk averaging 350 megajoules per cubic meter and peaking at 520.
That record comes mainly from stretch rather than raw strength: the silk is about twice as extensible as other orb-weaver dragline silk, letting it absorb far more energy before breaking.
The fiber supports giant orb webs over moving water, with capture areas up to 2.8 square meters and bridge lines measured at 25 meters across rivers and even a lake.
Researchers found the webs first, predicted the silk had to be exceptional, then confirmed it in lab tests—an ecology-led bioprospecting approach they say could guide searches across 41,000 described spider species.
The “toughest” label is limited to materials tested so far under standard lab conditions, and scientists still cannot mass-produce spider silk despite interest in uses from surgical thread to lightweight cordage.