Webspinners

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Embiidina: //ˌɛmbiˈɪdɪnə//

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Summary

The order Embioptera comprises small, mostly tropical and subtropical insects known as webspinners or footspinners, characterized by their unique ability to spin silk from glands on their forelegs. They typically live in colonies constructed within silk galleries, and have adapted to a life of searching for food and mates within these structures.

Physical Characteristics

4-20+ mm in length (our species are 4-7 mm); slender, usually brownish insects; males have wings, females and some males are wingless; tarsi are 3-segmented; basal segment of front tarsus greatly enlarged for silk production; cerci are 2-segmented except the left cercus of some males may be 1-segmented.

Identification Tips

Females are notoriously difficult to identify due to the lack of wings or full development of normal adult features. Distinctive copulatory structures of males may be used for taxonomic identification.

Habitat

Mostly tropical, found in southern US; silk galleries spun under stones, bark, in debris, and among grass roots, lichens, and mosses.

Distribution

Worldwide except Antarctica; highest density and diversity in tropical regions; found as far north as Virginia, USA and at elevations up to 3,500 m in Ecuador; first recorded in Britain in 2019.

Diet

Feed on dead plant material, lichens, mosses; generalist herbivores; nymphs and females consume plant litter, bark, moss, algae and lichen; adult males do not feed.

Life Cycle

Incomplete metamorphosis; one generation per year; eggs hatch into nymphs resembling wingless adults, which molt four times before reaching adult form.

Reproduction

Females lay a single batch of eggs within existing galleries or found new colonies; some species are parthenogenetic.

Predators

Birds, geckos, ants, spiders; vulnerable when emerging from galleries.

Ecosystem Role

Gregarious, living in colonies; important for soil and plant health as decomposers; provide protection in silk galleries.

Evolution

Fossils date back to the mid-Jurassic; polyphyletic relationships with other orders such as Zoraptera and Phasmatodea; internal phylogeny remains unresolved.

Misconceptions

Early entomologists considered webspinners to be closely related to termites or neuropterans; various group names have been used historically.

Tags

• Embioptera
• Webspinners
• Insects
• Silk Production
• Tropical Insects