A predatory, terrestrial; body divided into head (prosoma) and abdomen (opisthosoma) joined by slender waist; prosoma with 2-8 simple eyes, a pair of fangs (chelicerae) used to inject poison into prey, and four pairs of slender legs; opisthosoma bears respiratory organs (both lungs and tracheae) and usually three pairs of silk-spinning organs (spinnerets).
Spider silk is used to make webs, traps, homes, and funnels, to wrap prey, and in dispersal (as small spiders on silk threads can be carried by the wind).
Spider are animals that many people fear. There is even a name for it: arachnophobia, the fear of arachnids. The arachnid group also contains scorpions and mites, but arachnophobia are usually quite satisfied with being frightened of spiders, and see no need to widen their horizons.
The most obvious spiders in the garden are the orb weavers, the large spiders which make the biggest and most visible webs. On the ground underneath the big webs, there will be tiny spiders out hunting their food, spiders you will never see which jump on their dinner, spiders which cast nets to trap their dinner, and spiders which dangle a length of web like a fishing line. There are spiders which fly, spiders which walk on water, spiders which dive under the water, and spiders which dig burrows under the ground.…
