The spider is one of the species of orb weavers. Horned spider, or spiny orb-web spider

Spiders orb-weavers (lat. Araneidae) have 3 thousand varieties, united in 170 genera. They differ from others in size, color. Most major representatives live in tropical countries, weave a web within a radius of up to 2 m. locals use a "canvas" folded in several layers to catch fish. In our area, weavers can be found everywhere. They love forests, gardens, a sunny meadow.

Photo and description of appearance

Color, sizes are different - from 5 mm to 28 cm. Small, medium-sized specimens live on the territory of Russia. The body structure is typical - a convex abdomen, cephalothorax. The limbs are long, powerful, connected to the cephalothorax. Only 4 pairs. The color is gray, brown, black with various spots, patterns, stripes or without them. Photos of orb weaver spiders can be seen below.

On a note!

From the front of the cephalothorax there are pedipalps, which look like another pair of limbs. Movable tentacles help to hold the victim, grind, grind food. Chelicerae end in sharp fangs and contain venom glands. With them, the predator pierces the chitinous cover of the victim, the skin.

On the head. The most important - 1 pair, are placed in the center. Catch visual images, silhouettes, shadows at a distance of 25 cm. Lateral - auxiliary eyes, provide horizons in all directions, warn of approaching enemies, potential prey. Spinners respond well to movement, web vibrations, and trap odors. The organs of smell and touch are paws.

Lifestyle

Spiders are nocturnal, during the day they hide in a secluded place near their own web. To catch prey. They do this at night, it takes about 2 hours to form the canvas.

Outwardly, the web resembles a lace fabric. Initially, the predator stretches strong threads, forms a triangle. Many cells of different diameters depart from them. The ability to weave trapping nets is transmitted genetically. little spider after birth, he is able to repeat everything that his mother does, but on a smaller scale.

Interesting!

The spinner spends most of his life sitting on the web in the very center, or hanging down in anticipation of a hearty dinner. You can notice a predator during the day on a cobweb sparkling under the sun's rays in the pose of the letter "X". Weaves nets almost everywhere - on plants, grass, trees, snags, in abandoned buildings, outbuildings.

Food

The main diet is insects, as well as small relatives:

• midge;
• snails;
• worms;
• butterflies;
• bees;
• beetles;
• small spiders.

The webworm learns about the presence of a victim by the vibrations of the web. Approaches the prey, bites, injects poison, saliva. Wraps in cobwebs, crawls to the side, watches what is happening for several minutes. toxic substance causes muscle paralysis, saliva turns the insides into a liquid mass. The spider tries to eat everything at once, leaving only the chitinous shell.

Interesting!

Without food, the spider can stay for about a year. At normal conditions, in large numbers food is fed 1 time in 7-10 days. Trapping nets are constantly updating, crawling to another place. Drops damaged web after 12 victims.

reproduction

Orb weavers gather in pairs only in mating season. The male carefully approaches the female's web, moves with his paws, creating certain vibrations. If the lady is predisposed to acquaintance, she crawls out to the middle of the canvas, sits motionless. The hungry spider eats the gentleman even before he starts courting. The same fate awaits him if the chosen one suddenly gets hungry after fertilization.

The female forms a cocoon, lays several hundred eggs there. Attaches near own shelter. Protects carefully. After 2-3 weeks, the young generation appears. Almost immediately they spread in different directions. They hibernate under foliage, in crevices, hollows, abandoned nests.

Poisonous or not

Circles are no different aggressive disposition, prefer to hide unnoticed, rather than rush to attack. They can bite, defending their own life. Slight redness, swelling, pain appear on the spot. Passes or takes place in some days. Orb weavers do not pose a serious danger to humans.

horned spider, or spiked orb-web spider (lat. Gastercantha cancriformis) belongs to the family Araneidae.

This little spider looks like a crab. The Latin name of the species cancriformis translates as "crab", and the name of the genus is formed from two words gaster and acantha, which means "belly" and "thorn".

Spreading

This species is widely distributed in Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica and El Salvador. In the USA, it is often found in California and Florida, especially around the city of Miami Beach and along the coast. Atlantic Ocean. Separate populations inhabit many islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

AT last years the horned spider was also found in Colombia and Dominican Republic. To date, two subspecies of G.c. cancriformis G.c. gertschi.

Behavior

The spiny orbweb spider prefers to settle in mangrove forests and wet areas on trees and shrubs. Differs in enviable diligence. Every evening weaves a new network in the form of a circle, in adult females it can be up to 30 cm in diameter.

It is placed on the branches in an almost vertical position, most often at a height of about 6 m above the ground, and the animal itself, waiting for prey, is at the bottom of its hunting structure.

Smaller males live on threads placed near the female's nets. They do not hesitate to sometimes feed on her trophies, after rhythmically tapping their paws on the threads. Such courtesy allows them to stay alive and not be eaten by mistake. Up to three gentlemen can feed from their girlfriend's table at the same time.

The diet consists of all kinds of flying insects. Fruit flies, whiteflies, beetles and night butterflies become prey.

reproduction

Until now, there is no reliable information about the features of the reproductive behavior of horned spiders in wild nature. All data obtained only as a result of laboratory observations. It is unknown if the female mates in vivo with only one or a few males.

The mating season occurs in late spring or early summer.

The gentleman who decided to continue the family warns the lady about the seriousness of his intentions with four quick blows along the edge of the net. He repeats them until the beauty demonstrates her attitude towards him. If she does not like the applicant, then she will simply drive him away.

In case of a positive answer, the male approaches his chosen one and, in order not to fall, joins her with a thread. Mating lasts about 35 minutes and is repeated several times with short breaks.

In autumn, the female lays eggs in the amount of 100 to 260 pieces in one oblong cocoon of a golden or less often greenish color. It attaches nearby on the underside of the leaves.

The cocoon is attached first with thin whitish and yellowish threads, and then with thicker and stronger dark green ones. All this structure is additionally equipped with a special canopy.

After graduation construction works mother is dying. Its life expectancy does not exceed one year. Males live for about 3 months and die one week after mating.

Spiderlings hatch in winter and continue to be together for two to five weeks, and then scatter in different directions.

Description

The body length of females is 5-9 mm, and the width of their abdomen is 10-13 mm. The main background of the opisthosoma varies from white to orange, in some regions it can be black. Six spike-like processes extend from it, which are black or red. They are located along the edges of the opisthosoma in a diagonal order. Sometimes the tips of the spikes are colored orange.

The shape of the spikes and coloration have many regional differences depending on the habitat. The upper part of the opisthosoma is covered with miniature blackish dots like craters arranged in four rows.

The body length of males is 2-3 mm. It is more elongated than wide. The abdomen is gray, covered with white spots. The spines are weakly visible, they can hardly be distinguished no more than 4-5 pieces. The legs are short.

The bite of this horned spider is not dangerous for humans. It causes short-term pain, swelling, and redness of nearby tissues.

Accompanies us in life great amount Living creatures. We love a kitten or a puppy, but a cockroach or a spider is disgusting to us, and we don’t even think about whether they are useful or harmful. We won’t say anything good about the cockroach, but we’ll try about the spider. They live everywhere - high in the mountains, in the desert, in the forest and in the meadow, even in the water. Spiders are not found only in the permafrost of the Arctic and Antarctic. The conquerors of Everest found one of the species of spiders at an altitude of 7 km, and in the taiga at square meter soil, there can be up to 300-350 small spiders.

They have been and remain constant neighbors of man for many millennia. When man first settled in the cave, spiders already lived there. But mostly harmless spiders cause many people to have superstitious fear, the roots of which go back to ancient times.

The Apulian tarantula, thanks to a misunderstanding, even became famous throughout the world. The tarantella is named after him. This dance, widespread in the south of Italy, without which no one can do folk holiday, was born in Apulia sometime between the 13th and 18th centuries AD. e. Its appearance is associated with a method of treating a disease that has been practiced since ancient times, from which, at the height of summer, primarily young guys who worked in the fields suffered.

Among the many thousands of species of spiders, there are only a few whose poison is dangerous to humans. For example, outwardly scary spiders Zigella and Cyclosis are actually absolutely harmless. Benefits for a person, for example, bring more than harm. For example, in traditional medicine fresh cobwebs have been used since ancient times as a plaster. It stops the bleeding and disinfects the wound. Some tropical spiders weave a web so strong that the natives use it for fishing nets and nets. AT Ancient Rome doctors often recommended that the patient wear a spider pouch around his neck to cure malaria and other diseases. Here is a similar recipe from a medical reference book compiled by a certain Watson back in 1750: “Cover a live spider carefully with bread crumb, but so as not to damage it, and let the patient swallow quickly. This is a very effective medicine...”.

Spiders are united with scorpions and mites in the class of arachnids and belong to the type of arthropods, like insects and crayfish. The name of a class of arachnids and refer to a type of arthropod like insects and crayfish. The name of the arachnid class (Arachnoidea) comes from the Greek arachne - spider. The ancient Greek myth tells about a girl named Arachne, who dared to compete with the goddess Athena.

Spiders are the largest group of arachnids. More than 20,000 species of them have been described, and experts believe that this figure will increase significantly in the future, as the spider fauna the globe studied very unevenly and incompletely. All land is inhabited by spiders. Like insects and mites, they live everywhere, and there is literally no corner in nature where there would not be certain types of spiders.

In order to move on to a more detailed consideration of spiders, let's try to immediately understand the nature of this huge detachment and the features of its diversity. Indeed, in all the main life manifestations that support the existence of the species - obtaining food, reproduction, resettlement and experiencing adverse conditions - spiders use the web. A shelter and a dexterous device are made from it, with its help a complex mating procedure takes place, an egg cocoon is woven from it and a wintering bag on it is carried by the wind, etc. The spider interacts with the outside world not so much directly as other animals, through its cobwebs. adaptations, which in each species correspond to its vital needs and the specific environment in which it lives. In other words, relationships with environment carried out in spiders through arachnoid activity, which, like all the behavior of spiders, is based on instincts. A comparative study of spiders shows that the evolution of arachnoid activity, the evolution of instincts, is the leading direction evolutionary development spiders, on which this peculiar detachment reached an unprecedented flowering.

A clear confirmation is the nature of the diversity of spiders. Gossamer adaptations represent evolutionary ranks from very simple to extremely complex and perfect, whether they are egg cocoons, lairs and nests, or trapping nets. At the same time, the building of cobweb devices is becoming more complicated. It's great that general type At the same time, the structure of the spider is steadfastly preserved. The sizes of spiders, coloring, external form are different, the structure of individual organs changes, but all this endless variety is contained within the framework of a certain stereotype. A spider is always a spider. Unity is also maintained in a number of features of biology, such as nutrition, individual development etc.

The body of spiders is divided into two sections: the cephalothorax and the abdomen. 4 pairs of legs are placed on the cephalothorax, and 4 pairs of eyes on top of the head. A pair of short tentacles is directed forward; in males, the ends of the tentacles are thickened.

A characteristic feature of all spiders is the ability to secrete a special liquid from the warts at the end of the abdomen, which immediately solidifies into a web. The web is different depending on the purpose. From it, spiders make webs to capture prey, weave a shelter for themselves, make a cocoon to protect eggs, and use it for settling.

All spiders are carnivores, feeding mostly on insects. They get them either by lying in wait, or actively pursuing, or using trapping nets. The shape of the trapping nets different spiders different. To kill prey, spiders use curved hook-shaped jaws (chelicerae), with a channel inside through which poison flows into the body of the victim. (AT middle lane There are no spiders dangerous to human life in our country, but the bite of some spiders can be quite painful.)

After laying eggs, the female either guards the cocoon with eggs while sitting in the shelter, or drags it with her.

Young spiders emerging from eggs usually first hold together and then scatter. In some species, they tend to climb somewhere higher - on fences, bushes, trees. Here they release a small light cobweb, which is picked up by the wind and, together with the spider at its end, is carried away. This is how the settlement of young spiders occurs. This usually happens in autumn, during the period of " Indian summer”, and then everywhere on the bushes and fences we see cobwebs shining in the sun.

Adult spiders die after the end of the breeding season.

Family of spiders - orbweavers (Araneidae)

Spiders with a thick abdomen, significantly exceeding the thickness and width of the cephalothorax. The legs are short and thick, adapted for gliding on the web.

They move slowly, in case of danger they often fall to the ground. Trapping net wheel-shaped, with a middle filled with a mesh. Spiders sit either on a trapping net or nearby in a shelter.

Typical representatives are cross-spiders (Araneus), of which there are about 20 species in the middle zone of the European part of Russia. We stumble upon their network on the paths of gardens, parks and forests in July - August. Most often they belong to females. We give a description of the females of the most common and common species.

Common cross (Araneus diadematus)

The greatest width of the abdomen in the front. Light spots are located here in the form of a cross, on the back of the abdomen there is a dark leaf-like pattern. Legs are yellow, with dark rings. Size 14 - 16 mm. A spider waiting for prey sits in the center of the web. Inhabits forest edges, clearings, woodlands. The trapping net is spread at a height of 1.5 - 2 m.

Marble cross (Araneus marmareus)

The abdomen is oval, its greatest width is at the middle. Light (sometimes red) spots forming a cruciform pattern of the abdomen, steeply oval. Legs with reddish rings. Size 15 - 20 mm. A spider waiting for prey sits on the side of the trapping net, in a shelter made of rolled-up leaves. There are more than 30 radii in the network. Habitat and distribution, as in the common cross.

Four-spotted cross (Araneus quadratus)

in size and general background coloration is similar to the two previous species. The abdomen is spherical, in the anterior part with four rounded light spots or with four dark dots on a light background. The leaf-like pattern in the back of the abdomen is blurred.

It occurs in open wet places: in meadows, swamps with high grassy vegetation, along river banks. There are 20 - 28 radii in the trapping net. The spider sits in a shelter on the side of the web, where the signal thread leads.

Widely distributed throughout Russia.

Striped orbworm (Singa nitidula)

A small spider, 5 - 6 mm in size, with a rolled abdomen. The cephalothorax is brown, the abdomen is light, with two wide dark longitudinal stripes.

Common in places with moist grassy vegetation. The trapping net is stretched among the grass, not high above the ground. The spider sits on the side of the net in a shelter made of a green leaf folded into a corner.

Widely distributed throughout Russia.

Orb weavers are spiders whose weaving technique can delight even a professional weaver. Once, scientists even conducted a funny experiment - they sent two representatives of this species to one of them. What was their surprise when these creatures, even in conditions of complete weightlessness, managed to create a web of ideal shape and structure.

What else do we know about these spiders? For example, where do they live? What do they eat? And how dangerous are they for humans?

general information

Orb weavers are spiders, whose family includes more than 3 thousand species. Considering this, it is safe to say that they are in the lead among similar beings. However, this also means that it is quite difficult to give them general characteristics. Indeed, despite some similarities, their external differences can drive even an experienced researcher into a stupor.

What unites them all? The correct answer is a web, all spinners weave it. Spiders of this species, despite all their differences, create networks of a similar shape. It is difficult to confuse it with the creations of other arachnids, as it has an almost perfect shape. Looking at it, you can clearly distinguish both the main threads and additional ones, in the form of circles.

The appearance of spiders

These representatives of arachnids boast the richest set of skin tones. They can be both snow-white and poisonous green. In general, the color of their body depends on the habitat and serves as a kind of natural camouflage.

But there is also something that does similar friend on each other of all representatives of the species Orbweavers. Spiders of this family have a large abdomen, which in its volume greatly exceeds the cephalothorax. Also on the front pair of paws there is a special process, thanks to which they weave their web.

habitats

The trapping webs of orbweb spiders are scattered all over white light. They can be found in both Northern and South America, in Africa, Europe and even Australia. Some representatives of this species feel quite confident on the territory of Russia. In particular, the most common is the cross-spider.

If we talk about the preferences of these arachnids, then we can say with confidence that they like quiet and cozy corners, hidden from prying eyes. Therefore, they try to weave their web in those places where contact with the human world is minimal.

However, sometimes they can change this rule. The reason for this is the desire to find lands rich in food. Therefore, do not be surprised that the orb-web spider decided to settle in the garden or in the garden. Indeed, in such places there is a lot of prey, which, by the way, is often a pest.

How does a spider spin its web?

As you might have guessed, the orb-weaver needs a web not only for the sake of aesthetic pleasure. In practice, this is a powerful trapping mechanism, honed over many centuries by evolution. How does it work?

building new network begins with the fact that the spider sends one end of its web behind the wind in the hope that it will catch on, for example, a tree. After the goal is reached, the spinner, using the newly made bridge, begins to weave other branches of the web.

At the same time, he has two types of threads in stock. One is strong and elastic, the second is sticky. The first he uses to build the frame of the web. The second one is wound in circles in a spiral in order to cover as large an area as possible.

A signal thread runs along the entire web, the vibrations from which are able to inform the hunter that the victim has flown into a trap. After that, he only has to wait a little while the prey is finally entangled in the network.

What do Orb Weavers Eat?

The basis of the diet is made up of insects that managed to get into the net. In this case, the spider will rarely attack immediately. In most cases, he will wait until the victim is a little tired and stops fluttering, after which he will approach him.

The orbworm does not eat the whole prey. He injects special toxins into her, which corrode the victim from the inside. Then he simply drinks the contents like a thick soup, and dumps the rest down.

or not?

Many are interested in how dangerous it is for others, including people. Well, this arachnid has poisonous glands. But its toxins are only dangerous for insects and small mammals. In particular, it can cause paralysis in them.

As for people, it is not fatal for them. But the pain from him will haunt the poor fellow for a long time. True, spiders rarely bite people, it is much easier for them to jump to the ground and run away than to get involved in a senseless fight with a giant.

Spider-cross

In Russia, there is also a spider-web. Photos of this arachnid are presented in the article. His name is a cross. In general, this species of orbweaver is not much different from its relatives. He got his name thanks to the pattern on his belly in the form of a cross. You can meet him both in the forest and in an ordinary park.

They are often hard to spot because they hide from people. But with the advent of autumn, everything changes - they begin the mating season. At this time, the females weave webs in the most prominent places so that the male does not miss them. And only with the advent of the first cold weather, they again hide in their shelter.