The history of arachnology and how it evolved over the centuries is a fascinating read in itself. Learn the path that spiders took from being just another insect to a separate class: the arachnids. The scientific study of spiders, as with so much of zoology, is considered to have started with Aristotle (385-322) BC. However, … Read more
The Great House Spider Safari There are just over six hundred different sorts of spider in the British Isles. But of these, only a handful are commonly found in houses. But before we take a deeper look at the most common house spiders, we’ll first take a very brief look at the spider anatomy. This … Read more
Any look at spider poems and stories wouldn’t be complete without first understanding the word ‘spider’ itself, where it comes from and what it means. So with that said, let’s do just that. However, you can also skip ahead using these links: Spider Poems Spider Stories Spider Etymology The word ‘spider’ is of course just … Read more
Spider Ecology Spider ecology is a very diverse topic, which includes Spider Reproduction and Spider Diet – both of which have their own pages. Other aspects of spider ecology include growth, dispersal, survival and their effects on the environment they live in. I will write a little on each of these here, but please realize that I am … Read more
Spiders have their body divided into two sections, unlike the other commonly seen group of arthropods – the insects – who have their body divided into three sections. The two sections of the spider body are called the Prosoma or Cephalothorax, which is the head region, and the Opisthosoma or Abdomen which is the rest … Read more
Spider Courtship John Compton in his delightful book “The Spider” uses the below quotation from Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical Operetta Iolanthe, to introduce his chapter on spider courtship. Pointing out quite rightly that these four lines apply as aptly to spiders as to humans: When the sun shines make your hay. Where the will is … Read more
The Spider Web of Evolution OK, if we’re going to take a good look at the spider web and how it evolved the way it did, we’ll need to use an awful lot of very big words – it doesn’t matter if you can not pronounce them all. The important thing is that we have … Read more
Spider silk is one of the 7 great wonders of the animal kingdom. That a small animal, often less than a millimeter across, can make a substance that we humans with all our technology is unable to reproduce (a substance that is tough, stronger and more flexible than anything else we can make), is surely … Read more
Like all animals, spiders reproduce. The biology of reproduction has two sides to it. First, there is the anatomy and physiology of the reproductive organs and secondly there is the ecology of “boy meets girl”. For information on the anatomy of the spider’s reproductive organs, check out the Spider Anatomy page. But to learn how … Read more
Spiders are living animals and they therefore need to eat – just as you and I need to eat. For spiders, eating means first catching some other living animal. Most spiders are not fussy, though some have definite preferences and some have hunting techniques that catch them a particular type of prey (see Spider Silk). … Read more