Spiders, despite their small size, in spite of their small size, cause at least hostility in most half of humanity. Meanwhile, there are those who contain them as pets, along with hamsters or parrots. Have you thought about how much we know about the representatives of this part of the animal world? We recommend that you learn more about the Arachnid class, including 10 interesting facts about arachnids that will surprise, and possibly intrigue you.
The class combines a fairly large group of diverse and completely different arthropods. It includes three branches: scorpions, ticks and spiders, a total of 114 thousand species, including almost 2000 fossils. The most numerous are the second and third groups - 55 and 44 thousand representatives, respectively. The obsolete name for the class Arachnids is the Arachnids. It comes from the Greek language and, according to one version, is associated with Arachne, a skilled weaver. Proud of herself, she announced that she was superior to Athena in her skill, and invited her to the contest. Together with the recognition, she received the goddess’s wrath and was turned into a spider, doomed to weave and hang in her webs forever. Perhaps it is from this story that you can safely begin all the interesting facts about arachnids.
Dimensions and structure
Representatives of the class are ubiquitous, but they are mainly terrestrial inhabitants, there are also inhabitants of fresh water bodies, as well as one marine species. The sizes of these arthropods are scattered in the range from several microns to tens of centimeters. In the structure, it is customary to distinguish between two departments: opistosome (abdomen) and millet (cephalothorax), which carries the limbs of chelicera, walking legs and pedipalps. The body of all arachnids is covered with a thin cuticle of chitin. Spiders and scorpions have specialized organs - the poisonous apparatus, and the former also have a spinning one. By the type of food, almost all arachnids are predators, and only a few species have adapted to plant food.
And now we invite you to find out the most unusual and interesting facts about arachnids (Arachnids), namely about spiders, as the most famous and mysterious representatives of the class.
Fact # 1: about sizes
We are used to seeing small spiders at home or on the street, but we don’t even think about that somewhere in the tropical wilds of South America there is a huge species by the standards of the class - this is Terafosa Blond (photo below), he is also known as the goliath tarantula. Body dimensions reach 10 cm, and with spread legs, up to 25-30 cm. It is capable of catching mice, frogs and toads, lizards and, according to some, small birds.
Fact # 2: About the Web
The web is a secret secreted from special glands, which freezes quite quickly in the air and takes on the shape we all know. Its chemical nature is protein, similar in composition to silk threads. This is what the Arachnids class is famous for. Interesting facts about the web are numerous. It is very thin and light, but at the same time durable. So, the mass of the web, which you can braid the entire planet, will be only a little more than 300 grams.
But at the same time, if you imagine that it was twisted from spider threads as thick as an ordinary pencil, then it can stop the plane. The largest cobwebs weave large rows of nephils. They are also known as banana spiders and have a body size of up to 4 cm and a leg span of up to 12 cm. The largest web in the world was recorded recently in Mantadia (National Park) in Madagascar. The diameter of the "hunting net" was 25 meters. Weaved such a miracle a spider Darwin. After studying the characteristics of the web, scientists came to the conclusion that it is unique in strength and exceeds all similar indicators of other species by 10 times.
Fact # 3: about reproduction
Among spiders, sexual dimorphism is clearly traced, females are larger (sometimes significantly) males, moreover, they live longer. This is due to several factors. Firstly, males of many species, after they fertilize the eggs, die themselves, and secondly, the female can kill them. Interesting facts about arthropods (arachnids in this case) would be inconceivable without mentioning the infamous black widow (karakurt). Its toxicity to humans is many times more dangerous than a rattlesnake. The name of the spider is due to the fact that after fertilization in most cases, the female simply eats the male. The number of eggs laid can reach up to 20 thousand.
Fact # 4: About Poison
The Guinness Book of Records in 2010 recognized the genus of Brazilian wandering spiders as the most poisonous in strength and number of species. Their habitat is limited to Central and South America. The genus includes, according to the latest data, eight species, the latter being discovered recently - in 2001. Their poison contains a dangerous and powerful neurotoxin, which in toxic concentrations leads to uncontrolled muscle contraction and entails respiratory arrest. However, there is an effective antidote that minimizes deaths.
Fact # 5: about food
The method of nutrition and diet are largely dependent on the species. So, some representatives of arachnids can starve from several days to a year. However, interesting facts on biology (arachnids mean, in particular) would be incomplete without the assumptions from the series: “What if?” So, even if some species go on hunger strike for a year, spiders eat up the total biomass, exceeding the entire humanity in volume. That is, if they ate people, they would have easily dealt with us in three days.
Spiders are hunters, but they get their food in various ways. For example, the spinning queen is fishing. Having connected the web with two trees, she lowers the loose thread with droplets of secretion at the end and watches. As soon as a potential victim appears, she begins to swing the "fishing rod", thereby attracting attention. Moths and other insects, sticking, no longer have a chance to free themselves, and the spider begins to quietly pull the thread back to itself.
Fact # 6: once again about food
Interesting facts about arachnids concern not only how these arthropods hunt and eat. Not always the spider chooses a victim, often he becomes it. It is known for certain about the existence of edible specimens, and they can even be tried in the public domain. Especially famous for the abundance of such exotic exotic Asian cuisine. And even the poisonous tarantula in its habitats, the indigenous people (Cambodia, Laos) are happy to fry at the stake. Now, in many ways, this serves to attract curious tourists.
Fact # 7: Vegetarian Spider
Enumerating interesting facts about arachnids, this representative of the class cannot be ignored. Most spiders are predators. However, as you know, there are exceptions to all the rules, in this case it is Bagheera Kipling. A small spider of bright color (pictured) lives on acacia trees and feeds on vegetation.
It is noted that in the years of severe drought and a lack of food supply, they can go over to cannibalism.
Fact # 8: about the hunt
The weaving of a skilled web is not the fate of all spiders. There are those who use thin threads only as a material for erecting a home in which the female subsequently lays eggs. Horse spiders are active day hunters and have keen eyesight. They have an interesting hydraulic system of the body, which allows, as a result of changes in blood pressure, to expand the limbs and jump long distances. It is noteworthy that, before committing them, the spider takes precautions and secures itself with a cobweb thread to its original place. The photo below shows a gray morph.
Fact No. 9: On Life Expectancy
It’s difficult to say unequivocally about how many spiders live . It is only known that the minimum is before the period of puberty and mating (from several months to a year). That is, the individual dies after it fulfills its purpose - the continuation of the genus. However, tarantulas should be included in interesting facts about arachnids. They are real champions in life expectancy, although it directly depends on gender. Males die after the first mating. Females, by contrast, can live years and even decades. It was noted that in captivity, subject to all conditions of detention, some specimens reached the age of 30 years.
Fact # 10: about scorpions
These amazing creatures are perhaps the most ancient arthropods that once came out of the sea to land (more than 400 million years ago), however, their size then was very impressive - up to 1 m in length. Current species are much more modest in size. The largest representative of the detachment is the imperial scorpion (up to 20 cm), the smallest - about 13 mm. They eat exclusively live food, do not consume water, and can starve for two years. The most poisonous representative is the Israeli scorpion, which accounts for 90% of all people who died from the bite of these arthropods in North Africa.
These are very dangerous arachnids. Interesting facts about scorpions complete the top 10 amazing information about this class of arthropods. However, this is not the whole list, because nature leaves a lot of mysteries and secrets for man.