Spiders

Wolf Spiders

Wolf spiders are large, hairy spiders which are found all over the world, in deserts, near watery swamps, and in the garden. They live on the ground inside burrows which they build under logs or rocks. They hide their burrows with a covering of silk, leaves and grass. Wolf spiders hunt at night, and jump on their prey.

Female wolf spiders carry their egg sacs with them. After her young have hatched, they ride on the female’s back.

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Most Australian spiders are only harmful to insects and small animals. When spiders bite humans it usually causes a little pain only. Spiders help people by eating insects such as flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, beetles and moths

Red-back Spiders

Red-back spiders are round, black, pea-sized spiders with thin legs. A red spot or stripe on the abdomen is like a warning sign that says, STAY AWAY! Only the females have this red marking. Male red-backs are smaller and harmless

Female red-backs live for one year. During that time she may lay up to eight sacs of eggs. Each sac has about 300 eggs in it.

Most spiders have permanent homes but some hunting spiders wander about to different shelters.

Trapdoor spiders and funnel-web spiders live in burrows in the ground. Wolf spiders also live in burrows but come out to hunt.

Web-making spiders usually live in their webs. Some spiders, such as the leaf-curling spider, live in a curled leaf in the middle of their webs.

Funnel-web Spider

The Sydney funnel-web spider and the northern tree-dwelling funnel-web spider are two of the deadliest in the world. In Australia, thirteen people have died from funnel-web bites.

Funnel-webs have big, black bodies with thick hairy legs and strong fangs. The male is smaller than the female but he is the killer. His venom is six times stronger that of the female.

Funnel-webs have extra long fangs which are about 5 millimetres long. When attacking, the spider rears up and strikes, driving its fangs deep into its prey. This spider is so strong it can drive its fangs right through a child’s fingernail!

Many people think spiders are insects but they are not. Spiders have eight legs. Insects only have six legs. Spiders have no antennae (feelers); insects do.

A spider has two main body parts – the head and chest and the abdomen. Insects have three body parts. Most spiders have eight eyes but some, such as the spitting spider, have only six eyes.

Underwater Webs

The water spider lives in lakes and ponds in Europe and Asia. It builds its web underwater, and fills it with air which it collects as bubbles under the hairs on its abdomen.

The water spider captures insects which live in the water, and takes them to its underwater web where it eats them.

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The word spider comes from the Old English
word “spinnan”, which means to spin.

Spiders belong to a group of animals called arachnids. There are about 30 000 different species of spiders in the world. Many people are afraid of spiders, but most spiders do not harm people, even though they all produce venom or poison. Nearly all spiders eat insects, but there are some big spiders which catch and eat small frogs, fish mice and small birds. Some spiders eat each other too!

The word spider comes from the Old English word “spinnan”, which means to spin.

The water spider is the only spider that spends nearly all its life underwater.

This special spider spins a bell-shaped web under the water. Next the spider brings tiny bubbles into the water proof web. The bubbles push the water out of the web. It can stay underwater for several months, breathing air from the bubbles in its web.

Most spider mothers do not stay with their babies. When the spiderlings come out of their nest, they lift their backs towards the breeze. The air pulls a small strand of silk from the baby’s body. Off the spiderlings float into the air, like tiny balloons on strings. The breeze can carry the babies great distances to their new homes

Spiders live wherever they can find food. Some live on plants in the garden; others live in forests and jungles. Some spiders live underground.

One kind of spider makes its home under the water.

Some spiders live in houses.