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Spiders Essay

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Spiders

Spiders can be found in all environments throughout the entire world, except in the air and sea. (Biology of Spiders, R.Foelix) These invertebrates of the order Aranea are one of the several groups of the Class Arachnida, with about thirty four thousand species.

They range in body size from only a few millimeters in length to almost five inches.

All are carniverous and have four pair of walking legs, one pair of pedipalps, and one pair of chelicerae. (Spiders, W.Shear) Each chelicerae consists of a base and a fang.
The fang folds up inside of a groove in the base until needed when attacking food, then moves out to bite and releases venom from a tiny opening at its end as it penetrates the prey. (Biology Of Spiders, …show more content…

There are some spitting spiders that have only six, and there are some with only two or four eyes. Some cave spiders have no eyes at all and rely only on vibration. There are great differences in the ways which spiders capture prey. Some may stalk their prey, while others may lie in wait and ambush it. Other spiders may weave various types of webs used to capture passing prey, and there are some smaller commensal spiders that live in larger spiders’ webs and feed on the smaller insects neglected by their host. (The Spider Book, J.Comstock)

All spiders spin silk, though not all of them weave webs. Silk is most commonly seen used in forming webs, which may vary from a highly elaborated orb of spiraling threads to a single sticky string. Most webs can be placed into one of four different types: the orb webs, the funnel webs, tangle webs, and the sheet webs. The main purpose of a web is for catching prey. With orb weavers (Araneidae), the spider will first form a supporting structure of frame threads to which it will then add on radial threads.
(Biology of Spiders, R.Foelix) These tightly strung threads provide quick access to any where on the web, and also carry any vibrations from the outer perimeter to the center.
(The Spider Book, J.Comstock) After the innitial threads are placed, the spider will build on a catching spiral made of sticky silk. These spirals will be what capture and snare prey until the spider is able to reach it and inject it with its

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