I know of adult pest beetle (Popillia japonica and the mexican bean beetle) herbivory being negatively-affected by the treatment of leaflets with spider silk (Hlivko and Rypstra 2003; Rypstra and Buddle 2013). But I was wondering if there were any studies into pest species of Lepidoptera being affected.
I doubt this would be so, since at least some 'pest' Lepidoptera (eg. Lymantria dispar; Spilarctia obliqua, etc) are capable of spinning silk themselves. In the wild, I have never noticed larvae feeding on twigs with spider webs; on the other hand, most larvae would avoid spiders to start with, web or no web.
This is true Peter; Bombyx mori was used as one of the web sources for the beetle studies. However I think the emphasis here is with the semiochemicals left behind by the spiders deterring them. It is an interesting concept but it looks like there isn't much that has been done on it. Considering it now, I doubt it also!
Hi Scott,
I don't know of any silk studies, but I wanted to suggest investigating repellency of spider frass. I would also suggest contacting John Sivinski with USDA-ARS in Gainesville, FL. I know he was very interested in this subject at one time. He just retired, but he may know of some good studies. Good luck!
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