Lucas Bustamante / Brush footed butterfly (Lycorea sp.) caterpillar with parasitic wasp cocoons on silk threads, Yasuni National Park, Orellana, Ecuador.

Emanuele Biggi / Fungus gnat (Mycetophilidae) larvae, with sticky hanging threads, waiting to ambush small flying insects. Deer caves, Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Emanuele Biggi / Fungus gnat (Mycetophilidae) larvae, with sticky hanging threads, waiting to ambush small flying insects. Deer caves, Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Emanuele Biggi / Fungus gnat (Mycetophilidae) larvae, with sticky hanging threads, waiting to ambush small flying insects. Deer caves, Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Emanuele Biggi / Fungus gnat (Mycetophilidae) larvae, with sticky hanging threads, waiting to ambush small flying insects. Deer caves, Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia.

James Dunbar / Male Orb-weaving spider (Araneus) courting a female near a dead fly and cutting silk threads, Bristol, England, UK, September.

James Dunbar / Male Orb-weaving spider (Araneus) courting a female near a dead fly and cutting silk threads, Bristol, England, UK, September.

James Dunbar / Male Orb-weaving spider (Araneus) courting a female near a dead fly and cutting silk threads, Bristol, England, UK, September.

James Dunbar / Male Orb-weaving spider (Araneus) courting a female near a dead fly and cutting silk threads, Bristol, England, UK, September.

James Dunbar / Male Orb-weaving spider (Araneus) courting a female near a dead fly and cutting silk threads, Bristol, England, UK, September.

Steve O. Taylor (GHF) / Shipibo-Conibo woman preparing cotton on a spindle to weave a traditional fabric, near Pulcalpa, Peru, 2009.

Paul D Stewart / Illustration of Saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) and stigmas - or threads, used as seasoning and food colouring and worth more than its weight in gold. From Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch's 'Bilderbuc...

Pete Oxford / Mising tribe woman spinning silk, Majuli Island, Brahmaputra River, Assam, North East India, October 2014.

Pete Oxford / Mising tribe woman spinning silk, Majuli Island, Brahmaputra River, Assam, North East India, October 2014.

Paul Williams / Eastern spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) 6th instar larva abseiling on silk thread, Quebec, Canada, July.

David Noton / Weaver making silk cloth, Luang Prabang, Laos, March 2009.

Solvin Zankl / Bioluminescent Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva attached to the cave roof with silk threads, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva attached to the cave roof with silk threads, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Sticky silk threads hanging down from the cave roof formed by Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Bioluminescent Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae on cave roof and sticky silk threads hanging down, with a person in the background, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Isla...

Solvin Zankl / Bioluminescent Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae on cave roof with sticky silk threads hanging down, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Bioluminescent Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae on cave roof with sticky silk threads hanging down, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae and sticky silk threads used to catch prey hanging from cave roof, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva pulling up Mayfly caught in sticky silk threads hanging from cave roof, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva with Mayfly caught in sticky silk threads, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva and sticky silk threads hanging from cave roof used to catch prey, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Mayfly caught in the sticky silk threads made by Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva and sticky silk threads hanging from cave roof used to catch prey, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larva and sticky silk threads hanging from cave roof to catch prey, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Solvin Zankl / Sticky silk threads hanging from cave roof to catch prey formed by Fungus gnat (Arachnocampa luminosa) larvae, Glowworm cave near Waitomo Cave, near Te Kuiti, North Island, New Zealand, July.

Alex Mustard / Decorative sea silk, woven from the spun byssus threads produced by the large bivalve mollusc, the Noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis). Calasetta, Island of Sant'Antioco, Sardinia, Italy. Mediterranean Se...

Solvin Zankl / Threads of protoplasma by foraminifera (Sagenina frondescens) on a piece of sea shell with agglutinated sand particles from Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Digital focus stacking image

Juergen Freund / Sea cucumber (Bohadschia marmorata) discharging sticky threads as a defence mechanism, Palawan, Philippines.

Juergen Freund / Sea cucumber (Bohadschia marmorata) on seabed, when threatened it discharges sticky threads in defence, Palawan, Philippines.

Juergen Freund / Sea cucumber (Bohadschia marmorata) discharges sticky threads as a defense mechanism when threatened, Palawan, Philippines, Indo-pacific.

Chien Lee / Fungus Gnat (Mycetophilidae) secreted sticky threads function as an insect trap, Gunung Mulu National Park, Malaysia

Nick Upton / Female European garden spider / Cross orbweaver (Araneus diadematus) wrapping insect prey with silk threads spewed from spinnarets. Wiltshire garden, UK, September.

Stephen Dalton / Orb weaver spider (Atea triguttatus) on silk threads, UK

George Chan / Silk Cocoons being boiled to unravel the threads before spinning. Hotan (Hetian) City, Xinjiang Province, North-west China. July 2006, BBC "Wild China" series

Hans Christoph Kappel / Small emperor moth chrysalis in silk threads {Saturnia pavonia} Germany

Bengt Lundberg / Woman weaving coloured silk threads, E-Sarn, Thailand

Mark Taylor / New Zealand Glow-worm larva with sticky threads used to trap insects, NZ.

Xi Zhinong / Weaving threads, Dai ethnic group Yunnan, China

Onne van der Wal / An old woman using a loom to hand weave traditional fabrics, Guatemala.

Onne van der Wal / Using a loom to hand weave traditional fabrics, Guatemala.

Onne van der Wal / Colourful threads of handweaving loom, Guatemala.

Alex Hyde / False-coloured scanning electron micrograph of a cleaved sample of a crustose lichen growing on grey limestone, the orange are fungal threads and the green shows algal cells. The fungal threads anchor...

Brian Bevan / Ermine moth web (Yponomeuta cagnagella) caterpillars moving on thread, Bedfordshire, UK, June.

Nigel Cattlin / Droplets of water formed by an early morning mist on the delicate gossamer threads of an orb-web spider (Araneae gossammer) web, Berkshire, UK, February.

Nigel Cattlin / Droplets of water formed by an early morning mist on the delicate gossamer threads of an orb-web spider (Araneae gossammer)'s web, Berkshire, UK, February.

Nigel Cattlin / Branching threads of fungus mycelium in organic soil sample, mycorrhizal symbiotic organism which interacts with plant roots. Devon,England,UK,February

Nigel Cattlin / Branching threads of fungus mycelium in organic soil sample, mycorrhizal symbiotic organism which interacts with plant roots. Devon,England,UK,February

Nick Upton / Tilt shot of a female Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) on her web, showing zigzag stabilimenta threads, Wiltshire, England, UK, July.

Nick Upton / Female Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) on her web next to zigzag stabilimenta threads, Wiltshire, England, UK, July.

Tony Wu / Aerial panorama of Maninita Island which sits atop an extensive coral reef structure, which is for the most part not visible from the surface of the ocean. The reefs extend into the smaller island of...

Nick Upton / Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) female on her web next to zigzag stabilimenta threads, in a chalk grassland meadow, Wiltshire, UK, July. This species was first recorded in the UK in Sussex in 1922 an...

Erwan Quéméré / Sardine fishing net repair kit and nets. Concarneau, South Brittany, France.