Spiders are famous aesthetes. Many craft radially symmetric webs, first extruding long silken spokes and then spinning spiraling strands to snag prey. In the mornings, the intricately laid silk sparkles with dew drops. Your average, generic spiderweb spun by the most run-of-the-mill, Joe-Eightpack spider will still probably be one of the more beautiful structures constructed by invertebrates in your neighborhood—no offense to termites, which take a more brutalist approach to their design.
But some spiders take web design a step further. After spinning spokes and spirals, certain arachnids might add a cross made of zig-zagging lines, or a latticed nebula that radiates out from the center of the web. These embellishments, called stabilimenta, are spun with the toughest type of spider silk, known as aciniform silk, the kind they use to cocoon and immobilize prey. And though their beauty is clear, their purpose is hazy.
