Arachnids, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 28, 2019

Venomous Brown Recluse Spider Crawls into Woman's Ear

Brown recluse spiders, a venomous variety native to the South and Midwest, earn their name for their tendency to tuck themselves in hidden nooks and crannies. Still, when Susie Torres of Kansas City, Missouri, took herself to the doctor's office for a swishing sound that wouldn't go away, she didn't...

Oct 11, 2019

A Man Heard 'Scratching' Noises in His Ear. It Was a Spider.

Man wakes with earache and vertigo only to discover spider has crawled into his earhttps://t.co/atoqlNbMkz pic.twitter.com/UUpqId4XwpOctober 11, 2019 See more A man who felt a tickling and scratching sensation in his ear soon discovered something horrifying: A spider had crawled into his ear. The man, 27-year-old Liam Gomez, of Kent,...

Jan 6, 2020

A Man Caught a Spider Eating His Pet Goldfish and, Well, It's Terrifying

Man finds giant spider dragging his pet goldfish out of pond https://t.co/DB5vQZckUc pic.twitter.com/XzIDZWovVkJanuary 2, 2020 See more A tour guide in Barberton, South Africa, wanted to show his date his pet goldfish, Cleo, which he kept in the pond by his house. To the man's surprise, Cleo wasn't in the...

Jan 10, 2020

You're Not Seeing Things, These Spider Butts Look Like Faces

AUSTIN, Texas — Male peacock spiders have the ultimate challenge to contend with when it comes to mating: The much larger females would rather kill and eat the male than have sex with him. But the males might have a clever trick up their sleeve, or abdomen, rather. New research...

Jan 16, 2020

Spider Architect's Intricate 'Silkhenge' Revealed in Stunning Video

A mysterious silk structure in the Amazon known as a silkhenge has just been captured in a remarkable, high-resolution new video. These strange and tiny structures, each small enough to fit on a fingertip, have captivated and perplexed scientists since the first one was discovered in 2013 in Peru, near...

Jan 29, 2020

Newly discovered neon-green spider named after the 'Lady Gaga of mathematics'

A newly discovered neon-green spider that uses math to build its incredibly precise and consistent webs has just been named after the Lady Gaga of mathematics. The bright-green arachnid is part of the orb-weaver spider family (Araneidae), whose members tend to build beautiful and architecturally aesthetic webs that look like...

Apr 1, 2020

'Starry Night' replica found on peacock spider's butt

Peacock spiders (genus Maratus) are known for their luminous badonkadonks, which males use to dazzle potential mates through sexy spider courtship dances. Scientists have discovered 85 species of peacock spiders since the late 1800s, each arachnid decked out in a unique pattern of iridescent scales that some researchers have labeled...

Jun 27, 2020

Scientists discover spider wearing 'Joker' makeup, name it after Joaquin Phoenix

A newfound spider species wears a striking red-and-white pattern on its back that resembles the grin worn by Batman's long-standing nemesis, the Joker. The resemblance is so uncanny that the researchers who described the arachnid named the species after actor Joaquin Phoenix, who portrayed the tormented, smiling villain in the...

Oct 29, 2020

Look Ma, no ears! Teensy spiders hear with organ on their legs

Ogre-faced spiders hang from their webs, and like gymnasts, they flip backwards to snatch flying insects from the air. To hear their prey coming, the spiders listen for the flap of tiny wings using a special organ in their spindly legs, a new study has found. The organ looks like...

Nov 6, 2020

Rare wolf spider presumed extinct turns up on British military base

A 2-inch-long (5 centimeters) spider thought to be extinct in Great Britain is actually alive and thriving on a British military base. A program manager at the Surrey Wildlife Trust rediscovered the great fox-spider (Alopecosa fabrilis) on an undeveloped portion of a military installation in Surrey, England, after a two-year...

Jan 14, 2021

Huntsman spiders eat tree frogs after luring them into leaf traps

Huntsman spiders in Madagascar eat tiny frogs, and scientists suspect that the spiders catch their prey by weaving traps made of leaves, to lure the frogs inside with a promise of protection from the sun. In 2017, researchers spotted a spider in the Damastes genus clutching a Heterixalus andrakata tree...

Feb 2, 2021

Hundreds of 'highly cannibalistic' spiders invade teen's bedroom in Australia

So, for everyone saying it's Photoshopped, here is her actual video. pic.twitter.com/2Zcro0nra7January 28, 2021 See more The pitter-patter of little feet in a child's bedroom is a joyous sound — except perhaps when those feet belong to hundreds of baby huntsman spiders. Gaaaahhhhhhhh, a friend of mine in Sydney just...

Feb 3, 2021

Spiders hoist big prey with silk 'pulleys' — and now scientists know how

Tangle-web spiders are eight-legged engineers, crafting silk pulleys to snag oversized prey like lizards or even small mammals walking on the ground below. Until now, scientists didn't know exactly how the arachnids were able to capture such hefty victims. For the first time, researchers analyzed the spiders' building techniques and...

Mar 1, 2021

Venomous spiders take advantage of pandemic, move into college buildings

A venomous spider that usually stays away from populated areas recently showed up in buildings at the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus, likely because of pandemic-related vacancies, according to news reports. The species, known as the Mediterranean recluse spider (Loxosceles rufescens), has turned up in basements and remote areas...

Mar 31, 2021

Endearing orange-faced peacock spider looks like 'Nemo' (and dances)

A newfound species of colorful, dancing peacock spider has an endearing orange face striped with white, leading the arachnologist who described the spider to name it Nemo, after Pixar's famous clownfish. Unlike the plucky protagonist in the 2003 animated film Finding Nemo, the wee spider wasn't lost — it was...