Webspinners (order Embioptera) are one of the most overlooked and fascinating insect groups on the planet. Despite their small size and secretive habits, they are more common here in Florida than most people realize, especially due to our subtropical, warm climate.

What Are Webspinners?

Webspinners belong to the order Embioptera (sometimes referred to as Embiidina in older literature). They are insects within the broader group of winged insects (subclass Pterygota) and are part of a larger group (Polyneoptera) that includes grasshoppers, stick insects, and stoneflies. The name Embioptera comes from Greek, meaning “lively wings,” which refers to the rapid, fluttery flight of adult males.

While only around 300–400 species have been formally described, scientists estimate there may actually be closer to 2,000 species worldwide due to their cryptic lifestyles and how difficult they are to study.

Webspinners are most diverse in tropical and subtropical regions, but they also occur in warmer temperate areas where their silken tunnels can persist.

What Makes Webspinners Special?

The most remarkable feature of webspinners is their silk production — not from the mouth or abdomen like other silk-producing arthropods, but from glands in their forelegs. These enlarged basal segments of the front tarsi are packed with silk glands. And they have the ability to produce hundreds of strands of silk with each movement of their forelegs.

Webspinners are the only insects that spin silk using their feet.

Webspinners use this silk to build extensive networks of silken galleries and tunnels where they live, feed, breed, and take shelter. These tunnels help maintain humidity and protect them from predators.

Because of this unique silk adaptation, webspinners occupy a niche no other group of insects matches. Their silk threads are extremely thin (on the order of tens to hundreds of nanometers in diameter) and are among the finer natural fibers known.

Anatomy, Life History, and Behavior

Webspinners are small, elongate insects with a cylindrical, flexible body adapted for moving through narrow silken tunnels. Even though webspinners are an ancient insect group that likely existed before the breakup of Pangaea, they have changed very little in overall body shape. Living inside narrow silken galleries limits how much variation is possible, resulting in a single, highly specialized body design that works extremely well for their lifestyle. Their legs are short, except for the swollen fore tarsi that contain silk glands. They have chewing mouthparts, thread-like antennae, and undergo incomplete metamorphosis (egg → nymph → adult).

Webspinners have pronounced sexual dimorphism, meaning males and females look different. Adult males typically have two pairs of narrow wings and are capable of flight, although they are generally weak fliers. Adult females and nymphs are wingless and remain within or near the colony most of their lives. Females retain juvenile traits into adulthood, a condition known as neoteny, which helps eliminate projecting structures that could catch on the silk tunnels. In some dry environments, males may also be wingless or have reduced wings. Male wings are flexible and fold forward to prevent snagging while moving backward through tunnels, but can temporarily stiffen with blood pressure for flight.

Webspinners live gregariously, often in family groups with females and offspring sharing expanded tunnel systems. Some species show early forms of social behavior, where adults and nymphs cooperate in silk production and colony maintenance. This means they are not as socially advanced as honey bees, ants, or termites, but they do show some basal social behaviors.

One of their most striking behaviors is their ability to run backward more effectively than forward. This is aided by their flexible body shape, sensitive cerci at the end of the abdomen that act as tactile guides, and strong leg muscles that allow rapid reverse movement through the silken galleries.

They can run backward through their tunnels faster than they can move forward.

Habitat and Ecology

Webspinners are typically found under bark, in leaf litter, under rocks, or in dead wood where moisture and microclimate conditions are favorable. Their silk galleries can be found on tree trunks, among mosses and lichens, or in soil debris.

They are detritivores, feeding on dead plant material, lichens, algae, mosses, and other decomposing organic matter. Because of this diet, they do not cause economic damage to crops or trees and are generally considered harmless in agricultural and urban settings, which is likely why they are so commonly overlooked.

Interesting Scientific Insights

Recent studies on webspinner silk suggest it has unique structural and wetting properties compared with other natural silks, which may have implications for materials science and biomimetics.

Phylogenetic and evolutionary research continues to refine our understanding of Embioptera’s relationships with other insect orders, showing they are a distinct and ancient lineage within the insect tree of life.

Why Study Webspinners?

Although they are tiny and often overlooked, webspinners illustrate how much hidden diversity exists in the insect world. Their adaptations — especially leg-based silk production — challenge assumptions about how and where silk can evolve. Their unique biology makes them fascinating subjects for research in evolution, behavior, ecology, and even materials science.

A Closer Look Under the Microscope

I recently found a webspinner and had to take a quick look at it under the microscope. Below is a short reel showing the webspinner up close, including its impressive ability to sprint backward.

This was meant to be a very simple reel for the Manatee County social media page, but I ended up going down an absolutely riveting rabbit hole refreshing my knowledge of webspinners. There was so much cool information that I couldn’t help but summarize it and turn it into a blog as well.

Reference:

1. NC State Extension. Order Embioptera (Webspinners). https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/order-embioptera/

2. Resh, V. H., & Cardé, R. T. (Eds.). (2009). Encyclopedia of Insects. Elsevier.

3. Stokes, G. Y., et al. (2018). Structural and wetting properties of nature’s finest silks (order Embioptera). R Soc Open Sci, 5(9): 180893.

4. Edgerly, J. S. (2022). Dispersal Risks and Decisions Shape How Non-kin Groups Form in a Tropical Silk-Sharing Webspinner. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

5. Miller, K. B. et al. (2012). The phylogeny and classification of Embioptera. Systematic Entomology.

I came across this video from The Bug Chicks while verifying my webspinner knowledge, and I really liked it and I also felt a certain kinship with the creators:

The Bug Chicks. Insects and Human Society: Webspinners.
https://www.thebugchicks.com/articles/video/insects-and-human-society-webspinners

There is also a great video from Deep Look, which has been a favorite of mine for many years now, it is created by KQED and presented by PBS Digital Studios. They have an awesome video on webspinners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_JP3RbJ8zk

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