Timeline for Can silverfish climb and produce silk?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Mar 24, 2015 at 23:17 | comment | added | Lefty | Thanks @fileunderwater I'll have a read of it then. 1) The Wiki article mentions the same foodstuffs you've listed - none of which would appear to be present on my (tiled) work surface. Nonetheless they would appear to be able to thrive there somehow. 2) Bizarrely, most of the vertical surfaces are actually rough (wood) yet they never appear to climb them but 4) the objects they were hanging from were smooth porcelain containers. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 23:01 | comment | added | fileunderwater | @Lefty Sorry, forgot to mention that the paper is available for free here (view/download to the right). 1) dead insects, starch (wallpaper glue), paper, fabric etc. 2) Yes, but not on smooth surfaces, and not using silk from what I know. 3) Yes (see above), 4) I don't know about their molting behaviour, except they molt many times during their lifetime, and the paper linked above doesn't mention molting in relation to their silk. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 22:25 | comment | added | Lefty | @fileunderwater I've never used pubmed and from what I can see, I can't just view this paper without signing-up in some way. If I'm wrong please correct me. Either way, my original question without all the chatter can be condensed into 4 parts: 1) What are they eating if breadcrumbs are not on the menu? 2) Can they climb? 3) Can they produce silk? 4) Do they suspend themselves from silk and moult? From what you've said so far, this paper appears to answer point 3) with "Yes". | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 21:51 | history | edited | fileunderwater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 24, 2015 at 21:41 | comment | added | fileunderwater | @Lefty Yes, for tactile cues. Read the entire paper, if you are honestly interested in an answer: "Approaching the end of the courtship ritual, which consists of antenna-tapping and repeated responsive movements between male and female (Sturm, 1956,1987), male L. saccharina cover an area of the substratewith Y- shaped networks of fibers and deposit a spermatophore nearby. Detection of the Y-shaped tactile cues by the female induces a sequence of behaviors that culminates in her uptake of the sper- matophore (Sturm, 1956)." | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 20:01 | comment | added | Lefty | It seems pretty clear to me, just read the question text rather than the title. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 18:59 | comment | added | terdon | @Lefty in that case, please edit your question so the actual question being asked is clearer. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 17:27 | comment | added | Lefty | No, these papers are more interested in the structure of the silk, not the lifestyle of the Silverfish. The only thing it does is to confirm that they do indeed produce silk for the purpose of reproduction - although to transfer sperm packets, not as a "tactile stimulus" in your extract. I'm interested in their reluctance to climb and whether the silk is used in the moulting process. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 14:57 | history | edited | fileunderwater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 24, 2015 at 14:44 | comment | added | fileunderwater | @Lefty Since the paper seems to claim that the ability of produce silk covers the entire order of Thysanura (along with bristletails, spiders etc), it is unlikley to be specific to their particular study species. To use silk for courtship and sperm transfer is hardly "undefined", since reproduction is essential in the life history of a species. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 14:41 | comment | added | Lefty | This species seems to be different to the one we have in the UK and is more an American variant according to Wikipedia. However, it seems strange that a species would develop silk glands simply for such an undefined function - even one related to reproduction. | |
| Mar 24, 2015 at 14:19 | history | answered | fileunderwater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |