Many orb-weaving spiders build webs invested with curious flags, spirals, or zig-zagging ribbons of bright silk termed "decorations" or "stabilimenta". Web decorating arose some 150 million years ago in nine araneoid lineages, which have diversified into hundreds of species referable to about two dozen genera, with few reversions to non-decorating (Scharff and Coddington 1997; Garrison et al. 2016). But why natural selection might favor spiders weaving decorations remains unclear. Indeed, naturalists have been speculating about the behavior since at least Charles Darwin, who suggested in an 1832 journal entry that the device "strengthened" the web (Darwin 1839, p. 41). Over the nearly two centuries since then, more than a dozen other functions for web decorations have been proposed (Walter and Elgar 2012). Experimental tests began in the late 20th century and provide the strongest support for the device as a visual signal in prey attraction (Craig and Bernard 1990), predator avoidance (Blackledge and Wenzel 1999), or warning to flying birds of the web's location (Eisner and Nowicki 1983), as well as indicate that its function(s) are likely balanced against significant and varied costs (Yeh et al. 2015).

中文翻译：

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密克罗尼西亚马里亚纳群岛蜘蛛装饰网的长期、低发生率

许多编织圆球的蜘蛛用奇怪的旗帜、螺旋线或曲折的明亮丝带（称为“装饰品”或“稳定”）构建网。网络装饰在大约 1.5 亿年前出现在九个蛛形纲动物谱系中，这些谱系已经分化成数百个物种，涉及大约两打属，很少回归到非装饰性（Scharff 和 Coddington 1997；Garrison 等人，2016）。但为什么自然选择可能有利于蜘蛛编织装饰品仍不清楚。事实上，至少从查尔斯·达尔文（Charles Darwin）开始，博物学家就一直在推测这种行为，他在 1832 年的一篇期刊文章中建议该设备“加强”了网络（达尔文 1839 年，第 41 页）。从那以后的近两个世纪里，已经提出了十几个其他的网络装饰功能（Walter and Elgar 2012）。