"Eek! a spider!"

At times, reactions to the same event have opposite results when it comes to adults or children. While the sight of a spider may cause an adults heart to skip a beat, the same sight might evoke an emotion of delight and fascination from a child. Even "icky" and "gross" creatures can become part of great science lessons.

Spiders are invertebrate animals found throughout the world. Many people think spiders are insects. Insects and spiders both belong to the same phylum, Arthropoda. However, insects belong to the class Insecta, and spiders belong to the class Arachnida. Insects have three pairs of legs and three body parts.

There are over 37,000 species of spiders divided into three groups: primitive spiders, tarantulas, and true spiders. Primitive spiders have segmented abdomens, live in burrows in the ground, and are only found in East Asia. The hairy tarantulas have jaws on the front of their cephalothorax . They are found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. True spiders are the most commonly encountered and include orb weavers, wolf spiders, jumping spiders, funnel web spiders, and crab spiders.


Spiders are well known for weaving webs. Silk glands inside the abdomen product silk for weaving webs and for other purposes - to catch prey, wrap and protect eggs, make a shelter, use as a safety rope when climbing and for ballooning (floating on the wind). Spiders make different types of silk for different uses- some sticky and some not so sticky.

~by Marilynne Eichinger~