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Is a spider an insect?
No, it is not. INSECTS have an outer exoskeleton made up of three body parts, six legs, and two antennae (feelers). They have two compound eyes and most insects have wings. They have a metamorphic life cycle: first the egg, next the larva (worm like), then the pupa (body casing with bodily changes occurring inside), and finally, the adult departure from the casing. SPIDERS have only an outer exoskeleton made up of two body parts (head/prosoma and abdomen/opisthosoma). A pedicel (small short tube-like stalk) connects the head with the abdomen. All spiders have six pairs of appendages: four pairs of segmented legs (8); a pair of segmented pedipalps (2); a pair of chelicerae with attached fangs (2); and spinnerets (2 to 8) from which silk is pulled from the body. Not all spiders make webs, but they all make egg casings of different types. They DO NOT have antenna or wings. Most spiders have eight eyes, but others have six, four, two, or zero (like cave spiders). Female spiders lay their eggs and create a silk egg sac around them for protection. Spiderlings (baby spiders) hatch from the eggs looking like a miniature adult spider. A spider will molt, grow out of its skin, up to five or more times before reaching its adult maturity (over a period of a few months). Most spiders are carnivorous—eat other animals. One of the 38,000 species of spiders is a vegetarian (discovered in 2008).
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Where do they live?
SPIDERS live everywhere except: Antarctica (South Pole), in the oceans, and in the air. The regions inhabited by specific spiders are determined by the climate, indigenous plants (plants that naturally grow in the area), and the availability of prey. In other words, weather and insect foods are indicators of spider species in the area. Spiders are known to live in the Arctic, on mountains, in fields, caves, on trees, in and on fresh water (not salt water/ocean), deserts, tropics (jungles), and the temperate zones (seasonal weather). The Asian and British Argryoneta lives its entire lifecycle underwater, even though it has the capability to walk on land. It must return to the surface in order to replenish its oxygen for breathing underwater.
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Can they hurt you? Is it okay if they crawl on you?
Wild animals can hurt you if you back them into a corner. They will defend themselves. Spiders, just like bees, have poison glands—venom. The fangs at the ends of the chelicerae pierce the skin and the poison is forced into the skin. If you are allergic to bee stings, you just might be allergic to spider bites. DO NOT pick up spiders. Look at them through a sealed glass jar. There are two spiders that can cause great harm to a human being, meaning YOU and ME. One is the “brown recluse” or “violin spider” found in the southern areas of the United States, but has known to ride piggyback on crates and boxes to northern states. Look carefully for the violin shape on the spider’s back. The other is the “black widow spider”, which is all black except for the red hour glass shape on its abdomen. Immediate medical care needs to be found when bitten by either of these spiders (antivenom antidote).
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I don’t like spiders. Why are they so scary?
They lurk in corners, on webs, and scurry about when frightened. They have long segmented legs that are very hairy. They do not have adorable eyes like a dog, but multiple black eyes that lack expression. They also have fangs and venom glands (there is a species of spiders that doesn’t have venom). The six pairs of appendages make them creepy, crawly, and SCARY! I, on the other hand, find spiders interesting because of their abilities.
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What do they eat?
Spiders enjoy a meal of insects or even other spiders. Water spiders (underwater or water walkers) catch minnows, tadpoles, and even aquatic insect larva. There is a species that enjoys plant juices. Tarantulas, which are the size of a dinner plate, eat mice, lizards, birds, spiders, worms, large insects, etc. They have quite a few animals on their dinner menu.
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How do they eat?
Spiders, just like humans, must turn their food into a liquid before it can be absorbed by the body. People use their teeth, stomach, small intestines, and various digestive enzymes. Spiders cannot take in solid food at all! They have to throw up gastric juices from the “sucking stomach” onto whatever food they are eating. Spiders either crush their prey into a pile of smaller pieces and throw up onto it or they force the gastric juices through the two holes made by the fangs. Whichever method is used, the spider slurps up the nutritious liquid food through its mouth opening into the sucking stomach. The food is transported to the midgut (small intestines) where it is absorbed and diffused out to the body.
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Do all spiders make webs?
No. All spiders produce silk thread to make egg sacs, but not all spiders make spider webs. There are spiders that create orb webs (vertical/up and down spoke wheel spiral snares), horizontal sheet webs (grass spiders), cobwebs (irregular meshes of silk), etc. There are many others that follow a pattern typical of its spider species—a ray, a minimal centered orbital configuration with long spoke extensions, horizontal funnel web (shaped like a tornado), horizontal dome webs, etc. Jumping spiders make cocoons to rest in. Tarantulas and trapdoor spiders line their homes with silk thread. Spiders lay down a silk thread as a dragline to protect them from falling after jumping (jumping spider) or to find their way back. Spiders replace destroyed webs or silk mesh by eating it and then reworking the web or mesh. When a spider drops from an elevated location, like a ceiling, it might change its mind and climb back up the silk thread. It will use its last two back legs to ball up the silk as it goes up.
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How many spiders are there?
There are 38,000 species of spiders in the world.
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How big are spiders?
Girl spiders are usually bigger than boy spiders of the same species, except for the underwater spiders. The smallest spider is two mm (2 millimeters: the point of a sharpened pencil lead) and the largest spider is the Goliath birdeater tarantula = 90 mm (3½” body with 3½” legs—the size of a dinner plate).
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How long do spiders live?
Most spiders of the temperate zones (between the warm tropics and the cold Polar Regions) live only one year or sometimes two. A purse web spider, Atypus, can live seven years, but the large tarantula spiders can live 20 to 30 years (wild vs. bred in captivity). Filistata, a cribellate spider, can live 10 years. Female spiders live longer than males as a rule. Males usually die after mating.
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Where do spiders go when winter comes?
Spiders are cold blooded animals and they have “glycerol”, an antifreeze agent, in their blood. Most spiders winter in the soil or in leaf litter. Soil, leaves, and a covering of snow are excellent insulators against the cold. The spiders lower the metabolic rate of their bodies—breathing, eating, and heart rates slow down. The spiders become rigid and instinctively bend their legs up under their bodies. Garden spiders of the Araneus species are able survive in -20 degrees Celsius or -4 Fahrenheit. Some spiders create egg casings in the winter and hatch in the early spring. There are certain spiders that are active during winter weather: - 3 Celsius degrees or 26.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Is Aerial a real spider?
He is patterned after a “cross spider”—an orb weaver. Spiders do not have tongues or people eyes, but he is a great fictional (not real) character.
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My teacher told me I have 206 bones. How many bones and muscles do spiders have?
Spiders do not have bones. They wear their skeletons on the outside of their bodies. Their entire outer covering is their skeleton—their exoskeleton. An orb weaver, like a cross spider, has 33 different leg muscles. A tarantula has 30. There are 36 muscles in the PEDICEL—the tiny tube between the head and abdomen. These muscles are attached to the exoskeleton by tendons (a stretchy tissue). The stomach muscle, heart muscle, and other digestive organ muscles are attached to the exoskeleton, as well. They are innervated with nerves from the brain (found in the head or prosoma of the spider).
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Do spiders have blood?
Yes, they do, but it is blue in color because of the copper that carries the oxygen through the “hemolymph” or spider blood to all the body parts. People have red blood because of the iron that carries the oxygen through their blood. Their blood is pumped through their bodies by the heart located in the abdomen.
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How many babies does a mom spider have?
The number of eggs depends on the species, or kind of spider. The Cupiennius, a wandering spider, lays 1,500 to 2,000 eggs in an “egg case” also called a “cocoon”. Heliophanus, a jumping spider, lays 20 to 40 eggs in its egg case/cocoon. Marpissa, another jumping spider, creates four to five egg case/cocoons to hold 20 to 40 eggs in each. Araneus, orb weaver spiders, lays almost 1,000 eggs. Other female spider species deposit some 100 or less eggs in their egg sacs.
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How does the mom spider take care of the babies?
She builds an egg case/cocoon and guards it from predators. The “nursery web spider” carries her egg case around in her chelicerae. She eventually builds a tent of silk and attaches the egg case so it dangles down inside the tent. Upon hatching, the spiderlings stay inside the tent/nest for several days until their first molt. They are now ready to leave the nest. The “mother wolf spider” lays her eggs in an egg case and attaches it to her spinnerets. She will drag it around until the spiderlings are ready to hatch. Mom tears the sac open. The 100s of babies will instinctively climb up onto their mother’s back and hold on to the hairs of her abdomen. They will ride piggyback for seven to eight days. Mom does not feed during that time. There are other spider species, Erisid and Theridiids, that feed their young mouth to mouth with regurgitated food (thrown up from the sucking stomach). The Theridiids are the cobweb spiders like the Black Widow. Coelotes, grass spiders, stay with their mom for a month, feeding on the insects caught by their mother. Some mother spiders will even lay extra eggs for the hatched spiderlings to feed on.
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Do girl spiders have boyfriend spiders?
Yes, they do. In fact, the male nursery web spider, Pisaura, wraps an insect in its silk, and then takes this gift to the female during their courtship. The female eats the insect instead of eating the male.
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I saw a spider on the ceiling. How do they do that?
Spiders have “scopula” hairs underneath their claws. A tarantula’s tarsus and metatarsus (the last two leg segments before the claw) have scopula hairs on the back side of these two leg segments. All spiders that have scopula hairs on their feet can walk up walls and window panes. A crab spider has 30 scopula hairs on each foot, but each one of the scopula hairs branches into 660 fine hairs called “end feet”. Each scopula hair looks like a tiny broom at the end—“scopa” is the Latin word for broom. There are 160,000 contact hair tips (20,000 per foot) that adhere with the humidity on the walking surface of a wall or ceiling.
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How long have spiders been around?
Fossils of spiders have been found in stone from the Paleozoic era some 300 million years ago.
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What color are spiders?
Most spiders are rather dull in color, which protects them from being noticed. There are green spiders, but they live among the leaves in trees—camouflaged. There is the goldenrod crab spider which changes his color like a chameleon from green, white, to yellow, depending on the color of the petal or leaf he is resting on. There are spiny backed orb weavers with red, yellow, or orange colorations. The tarantulas have some of the most beautiful colorations—the Martinique pinktoe, the Chilean rose hair, and a cobalt-blue tarantula, to name a few.
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Do spiders have enemies?
Yes, they do. Their worst enemies are themselves. Spiders eat other spiders. Pirate spiders only eat other spiders. Certain species of wasps, especially the South American “tarantula hawk” will paralyze a tarantula with venom and then lay an egg on it. When the egg hatches, the larva (wormlike) will begin to eat the spider while it is still alive. Mud daubers (wasps) go after the web spiders. Specific spider flies leave larva on the spider. They begin eating the spider from the inside out. Roundworms or nematodes are parasites that get into the spider’s body through openings in the abdomen. They can fill the abdomen of a spider with their size. People kill spiders in their homes, or even outdoors, due to their scary appearance. Spiders are my friend because of all the mosquitoes and flies they eat.
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Check out the books in the bibliography below:
- Bishop, Nic. Spiders. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2007.
- Foelix, Rainer F. Biology of Spiders. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Kalman, Bobbie. Ed. Web Weavers and Other Spiders. New York: Crabtree Publishing Co., 1997.
- Milne, Lorus and Margery. Ed. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
- Montgomery, Sy. The Tarantula Scientist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004.
- Platt, Richard. Spiders’ Secrets. New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 2002.
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How long does it take an orb weaver spider to build its web?
30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on the amount of damage to the silk web. Some orb weavers eat last night's web in its entirety before creating a new web. the silk is excellent protein for a spider. If there isn't a great deal of damage from the weather, struggling prey or dust causing a non-stick silk surface; a repair can take but a few minutes. If the web needs to be replaced(eating and building), it will take an hour or two to do the job - IN THE DARK!
Thank you, Erin form Casco, MI . Great Question!
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Is a daddy-long-legs a spider?
ANSWER: Yes and NO! All daddy longlegs belong to the same class of animal called Arachnida which includes spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks. They have 2 body parts and 6 pair of appendages.
The HARVESTMEN (Order Opiliones/Family Phalangiidae) called Daddy-long-legs in North America ARE NOT SPIDERS. They have long spindly legs (male legs are 20 times their body length—females slightly shorter). Their bodies are small and oval in shape: the female is ½” while the male is smaller ¼”. Two eyes sit in the middle of the head. They do not possess silk or venom glands, but do have stink glands on either side of their heads for defensive purposes. The legs of a “harvestmen” detach easily in order to escape prey. These arachnids live less than a year or two and feed on living insects, dead animals, and even plant juices. Colorations range from brown to yellowish/green browns—legs are pale to dark. They live on foliage in open areas and on tree trunks (shaded) and lay their eggs in the ground.
The CELLAR SPIDER or Daddy-long-legs spider from Araneomorphae/ Family: Pholangidae IS A SPIDER. They are light to gray in color with spindly long legs and six to eight eyes. Their abdomens are small and slightly elongated. They hang upside down in their loosely woven webs in cellar/bathroom/basement areas—dark and moist. This spider uses its silk to make a web and egg sac. The female will carry her egg sac around in her jaws/chelicera. Males and females usually hang out together. This spider has a defense mechanism when threatened. It will wiggle/vibrate in its web so quickly that it becomes somewhat of a blur to its enemies. They use venom through their fangs to paralyze their prey.
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My friend told me that spiders can balloon. Is that true?
Answer: Yes, it is true. They do not blow up like balloons, but some baby spiders, upon hatching, climb up above the ground on a tree, fence post, or tall grass and send out a thread of silk from their spinnerets found at the end of their abdomens. This silk is caught by an air current (breeze or wind) and carries the spiderling off to another place to live. This flying through the air is known as ballooning. This is a good thing because spiderlings become cannibals when they are hungry. The strong survive. Not all spiders balloon at the beginning of their lives. Charlotte’s spider children, born at the end of Charlotte’s Web, balloon to leave the barnyard.
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Are their poisonous spiders in the United States?
Answer: Yes, there are! WIDOW SPIDERS are dangerous to people if they do not receive emergency medical help. The Black Widow lives throughout the southern portion of the United States--coast to coast in its cobweb meshlike retreat. The Northern Widow has a broken red hour glass pattern on the underside of its abdomen. They can be found in quiet wooded areas, stumps, and stone/brick walls. The BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER or violin spider (a dark brown violin shape decorates the top of its head) lives in the southwestern United States. Its venom is also dangerous. They prefer to live in buildings on the floors and behind furniture. They can crawl about on dropped clothing, towels, and shoes during night time hours. Their head and abdomen are 3/8 of an inch in size--sandy brown in color except for the darker brown violin adorning the top of its head. It weaves a loose web of sticky silk. These spiders do not hunt people. It's a matter of being aware of your surroundings. Spiders will defend themselves..
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