calamistrumn.
/kaləˈmɪstrəm/ A comb-like structure on the metatarsi of the fourth pair of legs of certain spiders, used to card and curl the silk as it issues from the spinnerets.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider) > parts of > tarsus or foot > comb-like structure on
calamistrum1866
1866 E. F. Staveley Brit. Spiders 14 These [spines] are called calamistra, and are used in the construction of the web.
1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 292 The function of the calamistrum has been proved..to be the carding, or teasing and curling, of a peculiar kind of silk, secreted and emitted from the fourth pair of spinners.
1958 W. S. Bristowe World of Spiders viii. 79 Three families of British spiders have a cribellum and a calamistrum.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1866