Arachnids, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 20, 2021

Tarantulas conquered Earth by spreading over a supercontinent, then riding its broken pieces across the ocean

Tarantulas, everyone's favorite hairy spiders, are found worldwide, inhabiting all continents except Antarctica. But how did they become so widespread? Females rarely leave their burrows, spiderlings stick close to where they hatch, and mature males only travel when they're searching for a mate. To answer this question, researchers went looking...

Jun 20, 2021

Is every spiderweb unique?

Spiderwebs are astonishingly complex constructions for objects that are so delicate. Even if webs don't literally spell out the words terrific and radiant like those in the book Charlotte's Web do, each is nonetheless an intricate engineering marvel. Building these strong yet ephemeral traps is a process that follows patterns...

Jun 22, 2021

Photos: Spiders feast on deadly snakes

Spiders taking down and feasting on snakes is more common than researchers thought. Scientists have found more than 300 reported cases of 30 spider species preying on dozens of species of snakes. Some of these snakes are hundreds of times heavier than the arachnid preying on them, researchers found. Here's...

Jun 22, 2021

These spiders take down snakes hundreds of times their size

Venomous spiders prey upon snakes many times their size, a new study finds — and often emerge victorious against snakes as venomous as they are. The study researchers found 319 records of spiders killing and feasting upon snakes, 297 of which were naturally occurring events in the wild. (The remaining...

Aug 16, 2021

Mutant 'daddy shortlegs' created in a lab

Scientists have created daddy shortlegs, a stunted version of the common household pest daddy longlegs, by suppressing the genes behind the arachnid's famously elongated limbs. Daddy longlegs, also known as harvestmen, belong to the class Arachnids — a group of eight-legged invertebrates that includes spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites and horseshoe...

Nov 5, 2021

Giant, invasive spiders have taken over Georgia. Will they spread across the US?

Millions of giant spiders have invaded North Georgia, terrifying residents and spinning webs as thick as 10 feet (3 meters) deep. Porches, power lines, mailboxes and vegetable patches across more than 25 counties in the state have been draped with the dense, wheel-shaped webs of the bright-yellow Joro spider (Trichonephila...

Nov 17, 2021

Deadly and massive 'Megaspider' found in Australia has fangs that can puncture a fingernail

What has eight legs and fangs powerful enough to bite through a human fingernail? Megaspider, an enormous funnel-web spider that was recently captured in Australia. The Australian Reptile Park (ARP) in New South Wales is a public zoo that also houses a collection of funnel-web spiders; keepers milk the spiders...

Nov 18, 2021

Jumping spiders: Facts about the cutest arachnids on the planet

Ever seen a teeny, furry spider scampering across the floor? There's a good chance you've glimpsed a jumping spider. Jumping spiders are the largest family of spiders, with more than 6,380 species identified by science, according to the World Spider Catalog. The scientific name for the jumping spider family is...

Dec 7, 2021

Black widow spiders: Facts about this infamous group of arachnids

Black widow spiders are several species of arachnids in the genus Latrodectus that are known for the females' unique and striking appearance as well as their rumored tendency to eat their mates. They are the most venomous spiders in North America; however, their bite is rarely fatal to humans. What...

Dec 13, 2021

Giant huntsman spider: The world's largest spider by leg span

Huntsman spiders are large, fast spiders that live in warm climates throughout the world. They are named for the way that they catch their prey. Unlike many spider species, huntsman spiders don't build webs to catch prey, said Christy Bills, an entomologist and the invertebrate collections manager at the Natural...

Jan 16, 2022

Are daddy longlegs really the most venomous spiders in the world?

You've probably heard this playground legend: Daddy longlegs are the most venomous spiders in the world, but their fangs are too short to bite you. Is this really true? The short answer: no. But to reach that answer, we're going to have to get a few things straight. First, what...

Jan 20, 2022

Parasitic worm forces tarantulas to tiptoe, then starves them to death

Researchers have discovered a new species of parasitic worm that makes its home in the mouths of tarantulas — then slowly starves the spiders to death. The worms first appear as white splotches around a tarantula's mouth, according to a new study published Jan. 17 in The Journal of Parasitology....

Mar 3, 2022

False widow spider preys on baby bat in never-before-seen encounter

An invasive spider in the U.K. snagged two bats in its web, and only one bat survived the grisly encounter, thanks to the help of a local resident who freed the entangled creature before it met its doom. The noble false widow spider (Steatoda nobilis) originally hails from the Madeira...

Mar 7, 2022

Millions of palm-size, flying spiders could invade the East Coast, scientists say

A huge invasive spider that invaded Georgia from East Asia could soon take over most of the U.S. East Coast, a new study has revealed. New research, published Feb. 17 in the journal Physiological Entomology, suggests that the palm-size Joro spider, which swarmed North Georgia by the millions last September,...

Mar 7, 2022

Wolf spiders: Behavior, bites and other facts

Wolf spiders are a family of mostly large, hairy and athletic arachnids. Rather than catching their prey in webs, wolf spiders chase it down similar to the way a wolf does, although these spiders hunt alone, not in packs. There are nearly 2,400 wolf spider species across 125 genera, according...