FAYZ WORLD - SUGARWOLF'S ANIMAL PARK

All About Spiders

Species: Spiders are arachnids. They (along with insects) belong to the largest group of animals on Earth, the arthropods, which are animals with hard external skeletons and jointed limbs. Spiders are the only arachnids that have special glands in their abdomen which produce silk.

Description: They have four pairs of walking legs and fangs (chelicerae) adapted for liquid feeding. They have finger-like appendages at the end of their abdomen called spinnerets, which secrete silk during all stages of life. They must shed their old external skeleton (molt) in order to grow larger. Most spiders live only one or two years. They will molt 4-7 times as juveniles but, as they mature into adults, they do not grow any larger and do not need to molt.
     Many spiders have unusual body shapes and colours. A few are so small and live such hidden lives that most of us never see them. Others are very large.

Spider Silk: Spider silk is a fibrous protein that is light and elastic, but it is the strongest natural fiber known. The giant webs of a South Pacific spider are strong enough to be used as fishing nets. Cobwebs are sheets of silk made of many hundreds of tiny threads strung between heavier guy lines.

Mating: Spiders use a unique form of mating, in which the male transfers sperm to the female using specially modified appendages near the mouth, called pedipalps. It is easy to tell the sex of a spider: females have pedipalps which look like short legs, while males have pedepalps that look like ‘boxing gloves’.

Reproduction: Spiders reproduce sexually. Females lay eggs in batches, wrapping the batches in silken egg sacs. In some species the female carries the sac with her and in others she merely deposits it in a safe place and abandons it. Spiderlings hatch within the sac and then leave the sac to begin feeding.

Predatory: Spiders are predators and the majority of them will eat many different kinds of insects and other small animals. Most rely on venomous bites to subdue their prey. Some do not have venom glands but will bite their prey to subdue them. Some spiders have become specialized for feeding on certain types of prey:
     *pirate spiders (family Mimetidae) specialize on capturing other spiders;
     *kleptoparasites live in the webs of and steal the food of other spiders; and
     *wolf spiders (Lycosidae) subdue prey by pouncing on them.
Spiders hide at the edge of, or beneath, their webs and then rush out to grab entangled prey.

Redback Spider

Diversity: Spiders (order Araneae) is the seventh most diverse animal order, in terms of numbers of known species. It is also the largest group of animals made up exclusively of predators. About 34,000 species of spiders are known to science, belonging to about 105 families. Some arachnologists estimate that only 20 percent of spider species have been described, meaning that there may be as many as 170,000 spider species on the planet.

Habitat: Many spider species are restricted to particular habitat types, such as caves, old-growth forests, fens, bogs or other wetland habitats. Spiders are abundant and ecologically important in almost every terrestrial and semi-terrestrial (wetland) on earth, from cold tundra and alpine ecosystems to tropical rainforests and deserts. Because they are usually so abundant, spiders are among the most important predators in many ecosystems.

Origins: Spiders were among the earliest animals to live on land but their fossil record is relatively poor. The first definite spiders, thin-waisted arachnids with abdominal segmentation and silk producing spinnerets, are known from fossils like Attercopus fimbrungus. This spider lived 380 million years ago during the Devonian Period, more than 150 million years before the dinosaurs.
     Most of the early segmented fossil spiders belonged to the Mesothelae, a group of primitive spiders with the spinnerets placed underneath the middle of the abdomen. They were probably ground-dwelling predators in the giant clubmoss and fern forests of the mid-late Palaeosoic. Spiders with spinnerets at the end of the abdomen (Opisthothelae) appeared more than 250 million years ago.
     By the Jurassic Period (191-136 million years ago), the sophisticated aerial webs of the orb weaving spiders had developed to trap the rapidly diversifying hordes of flying insects. Meanwhile, the diversification of hunting spiders in litter, bark and foliage niches would have progressed in response to new prey-capture and habitat opportunities.
     There is a rich record of (amber spider fossils) complete fossils trapped in clear, sticky, tree resins from the Teritary Period. These fossils indicate that a spider fauna basically similar to that of the present day existed more than 30 million years ago.

Conservation: Spider species are threatened by loss of habitat caused by human development, resource extraction, and agricultural activities. They are also threatened by the effects of pollution, acid precipitation, and human-caused climate change on their habitats. We know so little about how many spiders there are, and where and when they can be found, that it is difficult to know which species are threatened and which may already be extinct.

Arachnophobia: Arachnophobia is a paralyzing fear of spiders, a phobia. It can be triggered by the thought of or sometimes even a picture of a spider. It is very real and very different than simply not liking spiders. Those who suffer from arachnophobia will do everything possible to avoid entering a situation where spiders may be present. Symptoms of arachnophobia panic may include excessive sweating or clamminess, rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, nausea and dizziness.

Sequenced by Barry Taylor