Spiders usually in most people cause either subconscious horror or squeamish disgust. Strangely enough, arachnophobia is peculiar to very many. Theoretically, because spiders are poisonous. But! Of the several thousand of their varieties of poisonous, hundreds and a half will scrape themselves off from the force, the rest are safe for people. The second explanation is disgusting. However, the most dangerous spider - the tarantula - resembles a plush toy. And his small fellow tribe, the argiope Brunnich, is generally distinguished by an elegant, almost festive look. So arachnophobia is something irrational, and the spiders themselves are worthy of attention and interest, like any other work of nature.
The appearance of argiopes
Even to fierce opponents of arachnids, the spider of the argiope Brunnich seems beautiful. In the people it is better known under other names: spider-wasp, spider-tiger, less often - spider-zebra. And all thanks to the bright, original, memorable color. In full compliance with the spider physique, the animal has a characteristic aspen (or tiger) color: yellow-black stripes. If you look closely, they are interspersed with white lines, but from afar the coloring is fully consistent with the one that wasps have. Spider legs are also ringed with contrasting stripes - it creates a clear impression that stockings are stretched on them. Clearly on the fourth, if you count from the cephalothorax, strip there are two noticeable tubercles, and there are notches along the edges of the abdomen (always six, but colored differently: shades vary from inexpressibly dark to bright orange).
Non-standard in the spider-wasp and the location of the limbs. Two pairs are oriented strictly forward, the other two are clearly backward. Visually, there are no lateral supports, which is uncharacteristic for most arachnids, in which the legs are perpendicular to the surface.
The impressive size of the argiope Brunnich can not boast of. Males never exceed seven millimeters in “growth” - most people will not even notice them, especially since their coloration is rather dull. Females will be larger: they can reach 2.5 centimeters, differing in bright, noticeable colors from afar.
How do these spiders live?
The range, which the spider argiope Brunnich confidently mastered, is quite wide. It includes many countries of Europe, the south (and more recently, the middle band) of Russia, Crimea, northern Africa, South Asian territories, Japan and China. These spiders settle in meadows, along the sidelines of even quite busy roads, at the edges, in the channels of dried-up rivers. Argiope - a hunting spider; he does not hunt from an ambush, but awaits prey in the nets. The basis of his diet are grasshoppers, flies, fillies and wasps.
Skillful weavers
Like all web spiders, the argiope Bruennich prepares traps stretched between blades of grass and low-lying branches of bushes. The nets of this species of arachnids are circular, in the center they have a zigzag-like pattern, characteristic of the weaves of all brothers of the genus Argiope and called stabilization. Despite the small size of the hunter, his traps are very durable, able to hold a grasshopper, which is 2-3 times larger than a predator. Argiope Bruennich spends only an hour to create networks that weave at the moment of sunset, in the coming twilight.
Spider hunting rules
For an argiope awaiting prey, it is not enough just to weave a network. The owner of the trap sits in its center, in that same zigzag segment, and waits for the victim, holding a skein of created threads in the limbs. When the prey is caught, the hunter entangles it in a cobweb and bites. The insect dies from the poison; in parallel, it begins to partially digest, while still not in the stings of a spider.
Sad breeding
Spiders of the species Argiop Bruennich deal with the issue of leaving offspring during the molting period, when the female has already dropped the previous chitin, but has not yet acquired a new one. After the male has done his job, the partner in the vast majority of cases eats it. Sometimes the "brave fellow" manages to fertilize the second lady, but according to scientists, not one survived to the third approach. There is a theory that cannibalism of a spider weaker sex is caused by a lack of protein needed for the development of heirs. However, it is not worth sympathizing with their “men”: the female argiope worries about her “husband” for a short while. After creating cocoons and laying eggs in them (up to 400 pieces in each “jug”), the spider-wasp dies. The offspring hibernates in the houses created by her, and in the spring she is chosen from them completely independent.
Argiope Brunnich's spider: poisonous or not?
The question of the potential danger of the entire creeping fraternity worries people in the first place. Argiope Bruennich did not escape a similar fate. Toxic or not this kind of spider, asking is incorrect. Strictly speaking, all arachnids are poisonous, another thing is that not all representatives of the species are able to bite through the skin so that their poison reaches at least the capillaries. So, without even conducting laboratory tests, it is safe to say that Brunnich's argiope is a poisonous insect. After all, it is with poison that she “pacifies” her victims. And for insects, he is deadly. Another thing is man. Its dimensions are not comparable with those of the argiope Brunnich. The bite of this spider is therefore relatively harmless to humans. It can be compared to the sting of a wasp (the spider justifies its middle name). The sensations are rather painful, swelling and itching can subsequently be observed, but the bite of an argiope is not dangerous. Only an allergy sufferer can suffer from it. But the same trouble will bring him the bite of any insect, right down to the mosquito.