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wristspinneretsI did some digging into the spiders mentioned during the 'field trip' scene at Columbia University in the first movie.
First, "the Delena spider, family Sparassidae, has the ability to jump to catch its prey" -- Delena is a genus of spiders, not a species. They are found in Australia and Tasmania naturally (and have been introduced to New Zealand by humans) and are huntsman spiders. Adult huntsman spiders do not build webs -- rather, they actively hunt their prey. Huntsman spiders use the silk they produce to protect their eggs in 'egg sacs' or 'egg purses'.
Second, "the net web spider, family Filistatidae, genus Kukulcania, spins an intricate funnel-shaped web whose strands have a tensile strength proportionately equal to the type of high-tension wire used in bridge work" is mentioned. They are crevice weaver spiders, and their silk is not sticky.
Third, the presentation referred to a "grass spider" who "hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction velocity so fast that some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition... an early awareness of danger -- a 'spider-sense'."
There is a screen in the background showing three different spiders, labelled as Delena, Funnel Web, and Agelenidae (a genus, a common name, and a family respectively).
In the family Agelenidae, there are "Eurasian grass spider" species that fall under genus Agelena (who weave entangling, non-sticky funnel webs), and "American grass spider" species that fall under genus Agelenopsis (these spiders weave sheet webs with a funnel-shaped shelter on one end, also not sticky).
[And if you look up "funnel web spider" the top result is an incredibly venomous Australian species in family Atracidae, while "net web spider" brings up spiders in family Deinopidae. To be clear, I don't think those two are included in the genetically-engineered spider mix. The actual family mentioned, family Filistatidae, are called "crevice weaver spiders".]
It is noted that it took "five painstaking years" for the Columbia University genetics team to "fully map the genetic codes of each of these spiders". The implication is that only the three spider genera mentioned in the presentation make up the components of the new spider.
However, Peter Parker's webs are shown to stick to things. If every single component genera mentioned is a cribellate spider (only generate non-sticky silk that they make wooly and entangling by rubbing it on their cribellum plate) rather than an ecribellate spider (also generate sticky capture silk), then how do the webs stick to things? This could have been easily fixed by putting an orb-weaver spider of some kind into the mix (family Araneidae) but nope! No! Instead we've got Oops All Funnel Webs!
So I'm just going to headcanon that at some point when our main characters' dialogue was taking precedence over the presentation in the sound-mixing, there was mention of an orb-weaver.
First, "the Delena spider, family Sparassidae, has the ability to jump to catch its prey" -- Delena is a genus of spiders, not a species. They are found in Australia and Tasmania naturally (and have been introduced to New Zealand by humans) and are huntsman spiders. Adult huntsman spiders do not build webs -- rather, they actively hunt their prey. Huntsman spiders use the silk they produce to protect their eggs in 'egg sacs' or 'egg purses'.
Second, "the net web spider, family Filistatidae, genus Kukulcania, spins an intricate funnel-shaped web whose strands have a tensile strength proportionately equal to the type of high-tension wire used in bridge work" is mentioned. They are crevice weaver spiders, and their silk is not sticky.
Third, the presentation referred to a "grass spider" who "hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction velocity so fast that some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition... an early awareness of danger -- a 'spider-sense'."
There is a screen in the background showing three different spiders, labelled as Delena, Funnel Web, and Agelenidae (a genus, a common name, and a family respectively).
In the family Agelenidae, there are "Eurasian grass spider" species that fall under genus Agelena (who weave entangling, non-sticky funnel webs), and "American grass spider" species that fall under genus Agelenopsis (these spiders weave sheet webs with a funnel-shaped shelter on one end, also not sticky).
[And if you look up "funnel web spider" the top result is an incredibly venomous Australian species in family Atracidae, while "net web spider" brings up spiders in family Deinopidae. To be clear, I don't think those two are included in the genetically-engineered spider mix. The actual family mentioned, family Filistatidae, are called "crevice weaver spiders".]
It is noted that it took "five painstaking years" for the Columbia University genetics team to "fully map the genetic codes of each of these spiders". The implication is that only the three spider genera mentioned in the presentation make up the components of the new spider.
However, Peter Parker's webs are shown to stick to things. If every single component genera mentioned is a cribellate spider (only generate non-sticky silk that they make wooly and entangling by rubbing it on their cribellum plate) rather than an ecribellate spider (also generate sticky capture silk), then how do the webs stick to things? This could have been easily fixed by putting an orb-weaver spider of some kind into the mix (family Araneidae) but nope! No! Instead we've got Oops All Funnel Webs!
So I'm just going to headcanon that at some point when our main characters' dialogue was taking precedence over the presentation in the sound-mixing, there was mention of an orb-weaver.
