Silken-tube spinners

Definition

Arthropods, especially spiders of certain families, that construct silk-lined tubular retreats or tunnels rather than planar orb webs or sheet webs; the tube serves as a shelter, ambush point, or prey-capture structure. The architecture ranges from simple silk tubes under bark or stones to elaborate turrets or trapdoor-fitted burrows. The term emphasizes function over phylogeny, grouping convergent lineages that share this building behavior.

Etymology

Compound of silken (Old English seolcen, silk-like) + tube (Middle French, pipe) + spinners (agent noun from spin, to draw out and twist fibers); collectively describing organisms that spin silk into tube-shaped structures.

Example

The purseweb spider Atypus affinis and many linyphiid sheet-web weavers are silken-tube spinners: Atypus builds a vertical silk tube partly buried in soil with a collar at the surface to detect prey vibrations, while some linyphiids incorporate a tubular retreat at the web's edge from which they rush out to subdue entangled insects.

Synonyms

• tube-web builders
• tubular-web spiders

Related Terms

• funnel-web spiders
• sheet-web weavers
• burrow-dwelling spiders
• silk architecture
• retreat (spider)
• trapdoor spider
• purseweb spider

Usage Notes

The term is functional and ecological, not monophyletic. It contrasts with orb-weavers, cobweb spiders (theridiids), and wandering hunters that lack fixed retreats. In spider ecology, tube-dwelling correlates with microhabitat selection (soil crevices, bark flaps, leaf litter) and often with sit-and-wait foraging. Some authors restrict 'tube-web' to specific families (e.g., Segestriidae, Eresidae), while 'silken-tube spinners' more broadly captures any species using this architecture. Check regional usage: British arachnologists sometimes use 'tube-web spider' specifically for Segestria species.