More About Spiders and Some Household Types

In truth, there are a lot of spider species that exist on earth. They are found in almost everywhere, from mountain tops top to sea waters, even to residential human houses. In U.S., only 2,500 species are found inside human dwellings, posing threat and nuisance to the household members. These types of spiders however, have to be dealt with accordingly to safeguard the homes of everyone.

On Spiders

Spiders are much like that of insects which belong to a larger group of animals called arthropods. However, they remain to be slightly different to insects in several levels of characteristics. One major difference of a spider to an insect is that spiders have eight legs, while most of the insect classes only have six. Spiders are also identified easily by their bodies which are comprised of two segments, the cephalothorax and abdomen. Along with their legs are also their eyes, wherein a spider would have normally eight eyes, except for certain types of species like the brown recluse which only have six equivalent sized eyes. Insects on the other hand only have six eyes, but of course, there are certain insects as well that will have more than just six. Moreover, spiders also lack the presence of wings and antennae. Hence, this would make spiders more related to scorpions, mites, and rather than with insects. A harvestman is another type of insect that is very much related to spiders in their physical appearance. However, they are still classified as insects due to intrinsic qualities that identify them as one.


The Very Useful Silk

The key characteristic to spiders that would make an individual easily identify them is their capability to produce silk in order to construct webs that serve at the same time as their dwelling or predator mechanism. Silk is produced by spiders through two special glands located at the tip of their abdomen. Silk is excreted as a liquid from the glands and when exposed to air, it would immediately solidify and when spun together becomes now what we call as spider's web. A spider's web has many purposes to a spider and of great importance to their very existence. As earlier mentioned, a web is used to capture a prey. Web traps like what Tarantulas construct under desert holes is just one of the many examples of how spiders use their web to trap their prey. Of course, that is then compounded with their venom which is used to paralyze their victims. The silk is also then used to construct web dwellings or shelters for spiders where they stay for some time in their life waiting for a catch or a helpless prey ensnared by the sticky substance. Another purpose to a spider's silk is to use it for locomotive purposes like dangling over woods and transferring to one place to another as well as to parachute themselves when they would have to come down from a high place like a tree or tall plant. Spun amounts of silk are also used as egg sacs in cases of spider conception. Egg sacs are made to protect the eggs from external pressures like the wind or rainwater, as well as to camouflage the eggs from other dangerous predators.

How Eight-Legs are Born

Spiders upon conception will hatch through eggs. The egg sacs are normally carried by female spiders or sometimes, it is tucked away on particular safe spots, free from the dangers of predation. Spiderlings or young spiders are replicas of an adult spider only smaller. This simply means there is no significant to a young and an adult spider apart from their size. Spiderlings grow through a series of spider molts. Spiders normally don't live too long. Their lifespan could only last for only one to two years. But without any form of external pressure or interference, they could live longer than how long they are expected. A certain spider was discovered by scientists has lived long enough to reach 6 meters in size. Spiders are cold blooded invertebrates. That is why during cold weather or conditions, their activities are lessened and even curtailed to some extent.

Contributions to Humans and Ecology

If not regarded as pests, spiders are actually quite helpful to the human race. They are often considered as pest control mechanisms in themselves. Since they feed on smaller insects, pest bugs like termites, flies, mosquitoes, centipedes are just some of their regular meals either in the forest or inside the house. Unfortunately, when they have come to that extent where they have practically overpopulated inside the household, they are then considered already as pests.

Spiders as Predators

Spiders are powerful predators. In fact, there are even some habitats in the world where spiders greatly outnumber other predators that exist in the area. While some spiders use their spun silk webs to their advantage to catch preys, there are some others that make use of stalking and ambush methods to get their meal. Spiders don't have teeth or jaws to use for chewing their food. Instead they have fang-looking pincers and gland that produces poison. The fangs are used to install themselves to their prey and subdue it, and venoms will flow through their hollow fangs and then injected to the prey's body in order to immobilize it. After that, spiders will make use of unique enzymatic saliva that will digest the muscles and internal viscera of the victim so that it can be sucked up by the spider eventually. The process of spider digestion is slow and would normally take longer especially for those smaller types.

The Infamous Spider Venoms

Speaking of spider venoms, the poison effects of spiders to humans have long been exaggerated ever since. The truth is most species of spiders have venoms that have negligible effects to humans. The effects could often just range from mild irritation to larger swellings and inflammation but nothing detrimentally serious. There are a very few species of spiders however that pose considerable threat to human health. These are the venoms coming from the black widow, brown recluse and hobo spiders. These types of spiders have stronger venoms to paralyze their prey.