The common cross (Araneus diadematus) is a representative of the family of round-spider spiders of the genus araneomorphic spiders. He prefers moist and damp places. Most often found in fields, meadows, forests, near water bodies and rivers. The insect is a convinced hermit predator, not tolerating representatives of its kind.
Structural features
The male cross is in the range of 8-10 mm, the females are larger - 15-25 mm. The insect has four pairs of eyes, each of which looks in the other direction and provides the spider with a fairly broad outlook. Despite this, the crosses see poorly, they are shortsighted and are able to distinguish only shadow, movement, shape of objects. But they have a sharp sense of smell and taste. The body of the spider is covered with hairs that sensitively pick up any vibration and vibration.
The common cross has eight legs, its abdomen is round in shape, white or light brown spots in the form of a cross are visible on it. Long, thin paws end with three claws.
Where does the spider live
Most often, an insect can be found in the crowns of trees, where it pulls a net between the branches. The web in the form of a wheel is found in forests, groves, groomed gardens, vegetable gardens and in attics.
Nets for catching prey are constantly in need of repair, since they are destroyed by various insects, so once every few days the cross opens a web and weaves again. Most often this happens at night.
Breeding
Spiders are dioecious insects. Their mating season is in August. After the pairing has occurred, the male, not having time to escape from the spider, perishes. The female, on the other hand, begins to weave the egg cocoon from the web, which she carries on herself, then hides it in a safe place. Egg laying occurs in the fall. With the advent of spring, young insects begin to appear from the cocoon. Their puberty occurs at the end of summer, after which the spider, which produced them, perishes.
With the onset of maturity, the male spider begins to search for the female’s web, upon discovering which, it tries not to become prey itself. To avoid this, the spider prepares itself a path for retreat, weaving the thread down from the edge of the web. After that, it begins to gently pull the thread, which provokes the female to rush to search for the victim. At the same time, the male spider hides using a woven thread.
Similar games are repeated several times, after which the male and female mate. And if the spider loses its vigilance after mating, it can be eaten by the female.
The cocoon woven by the female contains from three hundred to eight hundred amber-colored eggs. Eggs hibernate in a cocoon; in the spring, young spiders begin to appear from them. For some time they are in a cocoon, then creep in order to start an independent life.
Small spiders have weak limbs, so it is more convenient for them to move from place to place, planning on the web. The common crosshair hunts constantly, flies, mosquitoes, mosquitoes, midges, moths and aphids fall into its network.
Web
Only the female weaves a web for catching prey. Being in the center of the web or nearby, sitting on a signal string, dangerous spiders wait for the catch. Most often, a fly or a mosquito becomes prey. When a very large and inedible prey enters the web, the spider releases it, breaking the web.
The caught catch is eaten right away or carried away by a spider to a secluded place and entangled in a cobweb.
The web woven by the female has exactly 39 radii, 1245 points at which the radii are attached to the spiral. The spiral has 35 turns. All webs that spiders weave are identical. The ability to weave a web is genetically laid.
All the threads that make up the net are very light, but very durable, which is what the people of the tropics use, using the web to make nets or fishing tackle. In addition, the cross web has high elasticity.
In the process of creating a web, two types of threads are used. The spider weaves the frame and radii using durable, dry fibers that do not have an adhesive coating. The frame of the future web is stretched between the branches. After that, the spider is engaged in weaving radial threads, which diverge from the center to the edges, as well as an auxiliary spiral thread, which serves as the basis for creating a hunting spiral. At the end of this work, the spider-cross is placed in the center, from where it is laying the adhesive web. An insect takes about an hour to weave a network.
Insect behavior
How is the hunt going? When any insect enters the spider's web, the vibration of the network is transmitted, and, approaching the victim, he kills it with the help of poison. Then it entangles the victim with thin threads, which it pulls from the abdomen with a pair of legs.
After that, the ordinary cross-piece bites the threads that hold the victim, and moves to the center of the web for a meal. With the help of the digestive juices that the spider injects into its prey, it is digested under its own shell. The spider can only suck out the semi-liquid contents and throw away the skin of the eaten insect. At a time, a spider can feast on a dozen insects. Dangerous spiders are only for insects, their poison does not harm humans.
Insect benefit
The common cross is useful in that it destroys a large number of insect pests.
In ancient times, they knew how to make clothes and jewelry from the web. The French learned to make gloves and stockings out of it. But such production did not occur on a large scale, since for this it would have been necessary to contain and feed a lot of insects, which was not possible.
Web properties are used in optical instruments where thin fibers are used. It is also needed in microbiology.
The network of the cross can be used as a disinfectant and antibacterial agent for wounds due to the ability to destroy many bacteria without harming the animal cells. But you should not use this method at home, as there is no certainty about the cleanliness of the web used.
The spider-cross is an extremely useful insect for humans and not dangerous, although poisonous. The biggest nuisance that a cross stitch can turn into is a red spot on the skin.