Spiders. Part 1. Introduction. A journey into the secret world of spiders.
An Introduction.
You must be wondering why on earth are we writing about Spiders.
Why Spiders?
Why would anyone, they are hairy, run fast, get in the bath, and carry venom. Do you feel that queer sensation when you see one? You may suffer from Arachnophobia.
However, a phobia is an irrational fear as opposed to a rational fear.
If that is not enough. Let me tell you about my wife Kathleen, who cared for 4,500 Tarantulas in a bedroom, as part of this study. At one time Kathleen had little understanding of spiders, now she is an author of many books on the subject.
Our message is that any in-depth study of a lifeform can be mindboggling.
So, let’s you and I, as mature students with an inquiring mind, make a fabulous journey into the world of spiders. To this end, we have created a series of posts taking our dear readers on such a journey of enlightenment.
This is an introduction to Arachnids, spiders, and their kin. We will include delightful creatures such as Scorpions, Ticks, Pseudoscorpions, Sun Spiders, Water Mites, Tailless Whipscorpions, Vinegarroons, and Harvestmen.
Spiders are not insects.
- Spiders have eight legs, whereas insects have six legs.
- Spiders have eight eyes (can you imagine), Insects have just two.
- Spiders’ body is divided into two parts, Insects have three.
- Insects’ abdomen is segmented, Spiders’ abdomen is not.
- Insects have a pair of antennae, and Spiders have ‘leg-like palps.
- Insects have wings, — CAN SPIDERS FLY?
Answer = visit, Spider Flight. (Coming soon).
Here are a few reasons to learn more.
- The sheer beauty and architecture of an Orb-web.
- A spider with two machine guns to shoot down its prey.
- A spider that dives underwater for fish.
- Wolf-like hunting spiders.
- A Jesus spider that can walk on water.
- The laziest hunting spider of them all.
- Ant mimic spiders.
- Cannibal spiders.
- Baby spiders that eat their mother.
- Crab spiders.
- Jumping spiders that dance.
- Tarantulas.
- Funnel-web spiders.
- Daddy-long-leg spiders.
- Blue silk spiders.
- Spiders with a hole in the head.
- Jaws.
- Black Widow.
- Spider Flight.
- Trash-line Spider.
Spiders are unique, strange, beautiful and strict predators.
As if that is not enough, male spiders have no penis.
This begs the question “How do they reproduce”?
Spiders are one of the oldest land invertebrates to colonize the land some 250 million years ago, yet the male has no penis. I like to think (with poetic license) that spiders evolved before sex was invented. On the other hand, one of my tutorials with “Great Courses” suggests that a fossilized spider in amber displayed the oldest penis on record. So what is going on?
You may wish to start this journey of intrigue, and a fascinating, inquiry of ‘Form and Function’ in, Spiders. Part 2. Reproduction of Spiders’ kin, an evolution of sex.
For more information about the various technics that male Arachnids evolved to transfer sperm to the female, as they colonized the dry land.
Conclusion.
Spiders, like all living forms, are a mindboggling miracle that emerged from the non-living,
Think of the journey that single-celled lifeforms took to evolve into spiders. Over some three billion years, it into a multicellular organism that was capable of leaving a watery environment and creating a life on dry land.
Happy reading. JohnH.
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