In addition to being creepy, spiders are also truly fascinating critters. Most know the basics concerning spiders, but we at A-Tex Pest Management would like to relate some intriguing facts about spiders.
Interesting Facts About Spiders
1) Not every species of spider spins a web. Wolf spiders, for example, do not use a web for capturing their prey, but will stalk and ambush their meal. Jumping spiders have amazing eyesight and fast movement which allows them to pounce on their prey and do not have any use for webs either.
2) Spider reproduction. Male spiders transfer sperm in an unusual manner using their pedipalps to mate sexually. After preparing a silk web or bed, the male spiders will deposit their sperm on it. They store their semen in sperm ducts after they collect the sperm onto their pedipalps. Following the insertions of the pedipalp into the female’s genital opening, they release the sperm.
3) Males can be a potential food source for female mates. The male suitor can run the risk of being among the invertebrate prey she will feed on if she is hungry enough. To avoid being perceived as a meal, the male spiders will perform an elaborate dance to identify themselves as a mate instead.
4) Spiders protect their eggs using silk. Females prepare a silk bed to deposit her eggs just after mating. She will cover the egg sac with more silk after she is finished producing eggs.
5) To move their legs, spiders rely on muscle and blood pressure. Because some joints legs lack extensor muscles entirely, a spider can increase the blood pressure in the legs by contracting muscles in the cephalothorax in order to effectively extend their legs at these joints.
6) Spider anatomy. The cephalothorax and an abdomen are the only 2 parts to a spider’s body, which all spiders have. The eyes, fangs, palps, and legs are all found on the anterior body region, known as the cephalothorax. The spinnerets, resides on the posterior region, known as the abdomen. The spider seemingly has a waist, because of the narrow pedicel that attaches the un-segmented abdomen to the cephalothorax.
7) With the exception of one family, nearly every spider is venomous. The venom is what spiders use to subdue their prey. The venom glands, attached by ducts, are located near the fangs (chelicerae). When the spider bites its prey, the muscles around the venom glands contract to inject the venom through the fang. The prey is paralyzed with the venom. The Uloboridae spider family does not possess the venom glands.
8) As predators, all spiders hunt and capture their prey. Most will feed on other insects and other invertebrates, however, though few of the larger spiders will prey on vertebrates like birds.
9) Spiders don’t digest solids. They liquefy their prey before they eat. The spider will suck up the liquefied remained along with the digestive enzymes after the digestive enzymes are projected on the victim’s body and once the tissues are broken down.
10) Throughout their life cycles all spiders produce silk. Used for protect their offspring, for shelter, capturing prey, as to reproduce, the silks are made for many reasons and not all spiders use the silk in the same way.