This book surveys attachment structures and adhesive secretions
occurring in this class of animals and discusses the relationships
between structure, properties, and function in the context of
evolutionary trends, and biomimetic potential. Topics comprise
mechanical attachment devices, such as clamps, claws, hooks, spines and
wraps, as well as hairy and smooth adhesive pads, nano-fibrils, suction
cups, and viscid and solidifying adhesives. Attachment is one of the
major types of interactions between an organism and its environment.
There are numerous studies that deal with this phenomenon in lizards,
frogs, insects, barnacles, mussels and echinoderms, but the second
largest class of animals, the Arachnida, was highly neglected so far.
The authors demonstrated that most arachnid adhesive structures are
highly analogous to those of insects and vertebrates, but there are also
numerous unique developments with some intriguing working principles.
Because arachnid attachment organs have a very strong potential of
technological ideas for the development of new materials and systems,
inspirations from biology could also be interesting for a broad range of
topics in materials and surface engineering.