Types Of Spiders: This article is mainly for those who still think that spiders are insects. Did you know that spiders are not insects but are arachnids who have eight legs and have no antennae? There are around 43,000 species of spiders around us. , You can find spiders on all other continents, except for Antarctica.
Out of 43,000 species, there are around 25 species that can spit venom, which may not be deadly but painful. But we come across many people who suffer from Arachnophobia, which is the fear of spiders or discomfort when they see spiders around them.
Though most of you do not like having or seeing spiders around in your house, there are many surprising facts and benefits from spiders that may make you feel less odd having them around you. In this article, we talk about some enticing facts about spiders and also different types of spiders.
Some Facts About Spiders
Before we talk about the types of spiders, let us talk about some fascinating facts about spiders which will build your interest to know them better:
- Every type of spider has eight legs and spins silk. Some spiders can even produce seven types of silks.
- The silk coming out of the spider is actually liquid, which solidifies after coming in contact with air.
- The largest species of spiders can even kill lizards, mice, and birds.
- Spider’s blood is blue in color; this is because of the copper content in hemocyanin of their blood.
- Spider’s do not have teeth, so they cannot chew their food. In order to have food, they release digestive juices to liquefy their food which they can suck up.
- Female spiders can lay 3000 eggs at a time.
- Though the spiders have six to eight eyes, they are shortsighted.
- The way the spider’s muscles work is different. They can only pull their feet inside, but to push out, they have to release a watery liquid.
- Male spiders try to impress their female partners with a dance or present them with some gifts.
- Some female spider species may even eat their male partner after copulation.
- If you compare the spider’s silk with the same thickness steel strand, then you will get to know that spiders silk is five times stronger than the steel strand.
- Some spider bites may cause complications to health but not death.
- Research states that you can find spiders everywhere, like ten feet away from you, but they may not be visible to you; they must be hiding from visibility.
- Spiders are great bug controllers, and they form an important part of the ecosystem.
Types of Spiders
American House Spiders
These American House spiders are termed common house spiders. These do not live in the wild and prefer to live indoors like home, garage, basement, and more. You can identify them by their abdomen, which is round and is of dull brown color with tiny spots on their legs and body. The average body size of these spiders is 6mm. They are said to live for years once they mature.
They reproduce faster and make your place messy, so you must keep their growth in control. But common house spiders are useful as they feed on bugs in the house and keep it free from pests. So, you need not kill all of them using pest control; you can destroy their webs when they are not around, thus making them relocate to a different location.
Though they have venom, it is not harmful as it can result in a pinch and redness on the area. You can address the pain using a cold pack which will get down the rash and any swelling in some time.
Tarantulas
When we start talking about big spiders, the first name we have is the tarantula. Because of their size and hairy body, they are known as Baboon spiders. As the female tarantulas grow up to 12 inches and male to 8 inches in length, it may get intimidating to many of you. They can lay 100 eggs at a go, and females are known to molt (shed their skin or hair and feathers) all their life, and males molt till they mature.
They look beautiful in brown and gray colors having black lines on their legs, making them pet spiders for many. But many of you may wonder that their webs may make the house look messy. You need not worry about this because tarantulas do not create silk as they are not aware of how to make them. To kill their prey, they pounce on them and inject venom to paralyze their prey. Using their fangs, they kill their prey and turn it into a liquid using digestive enzymes. Some tarantula’s jaws are strong enough to kill their prey without the requirement of paralyzing them.
Though tarantulas secrete venom when they bite, they are said to give dry bites to humans when they feel threatened. In case they do produce venom that may give out an allergic reaction and is not life-threatening like many fear.
Black Widow Spider
Popularly known for their notorious behavior, these spiders are considered as most dangerous ones in the world, especially in North America. Both males and females look different. Females look unique, having a shiny body, red hour-glass shape marking on the underside of their abdomen. The markings can be orange-yellow sometimes. They are about 1.5 inches long, whereas males are half the size of these female spiders. They are light in color and have pink or red spots on the back.
They love hot weather and, during cold weather conditions, go into hiding. They feed on beetles, insects, and roaches and tend to hang upside position while they inject venom into the prey. The females are said to lay 300 eggs in a go, out of which the larger ones prey on their younger siblings. Also, they are known to feed on their male counterparts after copulation, so males try to escape after copulation.
Though the female black widow spider’s venom is fifteen times stronger than the rattlesnake bite, it is not life-threatening. But it may result in muscle pain and other symptoms like numbness at the site, nausea and troubled breathing, and more. It is better to go to the emergency and take an anti-venom to avoid further complications because of the bite. So when you come across a female black widow spider, stay away from them as their bite is considered very painful.
Wolf spiders
They are known as wolf spiders as their face resembles a wolf, but they have eight eyes in different shapes and sizes. Their body size and color vary depending on the area they live in. For example, they are one inch long in some areas, whereas they are half that size in other areas. You can see these spiders mainly in North Carolina, and they prefer living in pastures, grassy fields, suburban areas, and coastal areas. They hide behind woods and rocks and are hard to find.
They are known to dig burrows and lay trap doors to capture the prey, and this shows their intelligence and smartness. They put stones on the burrows to prevent interventions. They cannot handle harsh weather conditions, so they hide in the basements of the houses. They have a flexible abdomen and eat a lot of food which includes flies and crickets.
The female wolf spiders lay dozens of eggs in a go and are the only spider species that carry their spiderlings on their back for days once they hatch. The male wolf selects their partner based on their fragrance and can be rejected by the females also. So to impress the females, they perform a dance. They are known to attack and bite when disturbed but do not cause death in humans.
Golden Silk Spider
Also known as giant wood spiders or banana spiders, these spiders build a web that is golden in color. This golden color web gives it the name Golden silk spider. Though it looks aggressive, there are fewer cases to prove this behavior. The golden color gives an attractive look to the web, and even the webs are created in a zig-zag style which is unique.
This spider can be seen in different colors like brown, black, yellow, green, or red. They are known to have white spots on the legs and abdomen, and males grow up to one-inch size whereas females go up to 2 inches in size. You can spot them around the world, especially in warm climatic conditions.
The females copulate with the males only after molting once; if not, they are aggressive. Also, they are said to die after 27 days of their final molting period, after which young ones have to live by themselves.
They have poor eyesight and mostly depend on their senses, mainly vibrations, to feel things. They feed on tiny snakes, mosquitoes, butterflies, grasshoppers, moths, and flies mainly. They secret venom when they bite humans, but the bite is not lethal and is known to cause swelling, redness, and blisters which may disappear in twenty-four hours.
Conclusion on Types of Spiders
Many of you must have a misconception that all spiders are the same and can be venomous and make the house messy. But each spider is different from the other and has unique characteristics, lifestyles,s and more. Though they seem creepy and scary to you, it is good to have them around as they are amazing pest controllers and help in maintaining the ecosystem. This article may not get you out of Arachnophobia but will introduce you to five unique types of spiders and will let you know that they are not as dangerous as they appear. I hope the article helped you get a small glimpse of spiders and will increase your interest to know about more types of spiders!