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The Texas brown tarantula, Rhechostica hentzi, uses silk during burrow construction to manipulate, remove, and transport soil. Soil adheres to the silk desposited on the soil sur-face, and the strands are pulled together to form soil-silk masses. The spiders pick up the masses in the chelicerae and carry them away from the developing burrow. We suggest that this specialized use of silk for burrowing may have evolved from a combination of existing behavior patterns.