Spider silk spinning field, the spinneret apparatus of an adult "Araneus diadematus" (garden cross spider) consists of the glands shown below. Similar multiple gland architecture exists in the black widow spider. In order to artificially synthesise spider silk into fibres, there are two broad areas that must be covered. These are synthesis of the feedstock (the unspun silk dope in spiders), and synthesis of the spinning conditions (the funnel, valve, tapering duct, and spigot). There have been a number of different approaches. The molecular structure of unspun silk is both complex and extremely long. Though this endows the silk fibres with their
False garden mantis False garden mantis The false garden mantis ("Pseudomantis albofimbriata") is one of the most common species of mantis in Australia. Females reach 70 mm while males reach 50 mm. The false garden mantis is either green or brown but rarely may come in other colours. They have a distinctive dark spot on the femur of each raptorial foreleg. Females have short wings that only cover half of the abdomen, whereas Males have wings that cover the full length of the abdomen. Males sometimes have yellow triangular markings on the underside of the abdomen. They are widely distributed over Australia and