The Web Spinner (ウェブスピナー,webusupinā?) was a series of spider-based Bio-Organic Weapons developed by Umbrella USA. Though they had functional spinning glands, despite their name they rarely made webs with their silk.[2] The Web Spinner was intended to be deployed to war zones and use its venom to injure combatants before eating them. The limited intelligence and less-than hoped strength increase made the series non-viable and it was largely discontinued.
Web Spinners were a series of spider-based Bio-Organic Weapons developed by Umbrella USA's Arklay Laboratory. These B.O.W.s were created through the primary infection of spider test subjects with an early strain of the t-Virus and were among the first bioweapons developed after the Arklay Laboratory moved on from viral weaponry to genetically-altered animals. While their increase in size was impressive, they were found unsuitable as front-line weapons on the battlefield. Their lack of intelligence made them uncontrollable and therefore a potential danger to their owners, and Umbrella was disappointed in their physical strength and had hoped for a stronger weapon. Their fast mobility and ability to climb walls was applauded,[1] however, and they were instead re-evaluated as a secondary wave.[3][excerpt 1]
By 1998 the Web Spinners were declared unfit as weapons, and many were destroyed. Several Web Spinners were left behind for further research and later escaped. A larger mutant named "Black Tiger" settled a nest in the caves beneath the courtyard of the Spencer Mansion and gained a reputation for its strength that prevented the Arklay Laboratory's security team from destroying the nest. When the laboratory fell to a t-Virus outbreak, the nest spiders were free to expand their territory.[2][4][5][excerpt 2][excerpt 3]