How many spiders does a domestic spider give birth to? Where do house spiders come from in the house - is it good or bad? Features of the behavior of male spiders

When you shout “spider,” most people will shudder, because they don’t associate this word with anything good. The first thing that comes to mind is that spiders are poisonous, and non-poisonous ones are simply unpleasant... they look so strange, and they weave webs in the corners. But once you get to know these creatures better, fear will be replaced, if not by delight, then by respect. Few can compare with them in the variety of structure, lifestyle and complexity of behavior. From a systematic point of view, spiders form a separate order of the Arachnida class, numbering 46,000 species! And this is not a complete list, because new species of spiders continue to be discovered to this day. Their closest relatives are ticks, salpugs and scorpions, and their distant ancestors are marine arthropods like relict horseshoe crabs. But they have nothing in common with insects, to which spiders are often classified.

The two-horned spider (Caerostris sexcuspidata), which lives in the arid regions of Africa, imitates a dry tree using its body shape, color and posture.

The body of spiders consists of a cephalothorax and abdomen, connected by a so-called stalk. The cephalothorax is usually small, and the abdomen is highly extensible, so its size is significantly bigger breasts. In most species, the stalk is so short that it is almost invisible, but myrmecia spiders, which mimic ants, can boast of a thin waist.

A spider from the genus Myrmecium sp. pretends to be an ant, but its trick is easy to unravel if you count the number of legs.

All spiders have eight legs and by this feature they can be unmistakably distinguished from insects, which have six. But besides legs, spiders have several more pairs of limbs. The first, called chelicerae, is located near the mouth. According to their purpose, chelicerae are something between mandibles and arms. With their help, spiders grab and cut up prey, and also hold the female during mating, cut the web - in a word, they perform delicate types of work. The second pair of limbs are the pedipalps. They are also located on the cephalothorax, but are longer and more like legs. This is a specific tool with which spiders strain out liquid, semi-digested tissues of the victim. Males have specially shaped pedipalps, which they use to transfer sperm to the female. At the tip of the abdomen, several pairs of limbs have mutated and turned into arachnoid warts. Each such wart is connected to a large arachnoid gland located in the abdomen. There are different types of arachnoid glands and each of them produces its own type of web.

An enlarged portrait of an earth wolf spider (Trochosa terricola) allows you to delve into the details of the spider's anatomy: black ocelli are visible on the sides of a pair of large eyes; the brown grasping organs just below the eyes are the chelicerae, and the short light yellow “legs” are the pedipalps.

All spiders breathe atmospheric oxygen, so their respiratory organs are the lungs or trachea. It is noteworthy that they have 4 lungs (or the same number of tracheas), and there are species that have a pair of both. The digestive system of spiders is relatively simple. Almost all species have poisonous glands, the secretion of which is fatal to their victims, and sometimes to large animals. The spider injects saliva containing highly active enzymes into prey paralyzed by the toxin. This juice partially digests the tissues of the prey; the hunter can only suck in the semi-liquid food. The outer coverings of spiders are not stretchable, so for uniform growth they have to molt frequently. During molting and immediately after it, the spider is defenseless; during this period it does not hunt, but sits out in a secluded place.

The Dolophones spider (Dolophones sp.) owes its camouflage to its protective coloration and pose at the same time.

The most amazing thing about the anatomy of these animals is their sense organs. Compared to other invertebrates, spiders have well-developed and diverse organisms. The first thing you notice is the eyes. Spiders usually have eight of them, of which the two main ones face forward, and the rest are located on the top and sides of the head, which gives their owner a three-dimensional 180° view. True, there are species with six, four and even two eyes, but this is not so important, because all spiders see only spots of light (but at the same time they distinguish colors!). The exception is stray jumping spiders, which do not weave catching webs, but attack their prey with their “bare hands.” For an accurate throw, they have developed acute binocular vision, which allows them to distinguish the clear contours of prey and correctly estimate the distance to it. Cave spider species are completely blind.

To overcome your fear of spiders forever, just look into the expressive iridescent eyes of this female jumping spider (there are four of them on the front side). The species shown in the photo, Phidippus mystaceus, reaches a length of about 1 cm.

The sense of touch is much more important for hunting. It is unprecedentedly sharp in all spiders. Sensitive receptors and hairs on their paws allow them to detect minute vibrations not only of the web, but also of the air itself. You could say that spiders hear with their feet. It has been observed that the sound of a violin awakens the hunting instinct of some spiders. Probably the air vibrations caused by the instrument remind them of the buzzing of a fly. By the way, spiders themselves are by no means voiceless. Large species can hiss, buzz, and crackle, apparently to scare away enemies. The small ones sing mating songs, but so quietly that this sound is not perceptible to the human ear, but the females hear it perfectly. The sound of spiders arises from the friction of different parts of the body from each other, that is, according to the same principle as that of grasshoppers. But the abilities of spider legs do not end there. It turns out that spiders can smell with their legs! To be fair, it must be said that olfactory receptors are also located on the abdomen. Smell is important not so much for catching prey as for procreation. Following the odorous trail of a female, eight-legged knights cover long distances and unmistakably distinguish a friend ready for mating from an immature one. Another sense that spiders have mastered to perfection is the sense of balance. Spiders, without looking, accurately determine where is up and where is down, which is not surprising for animals, most living their lives in limbo. Finally, spiders do not have taste buds, but they do have taste. Again, they distinguish tasty prey from tasteless ones with their feet!

Female Theraphosa blondi in the natural environment.

The sizes of spiders vary widely. The body length of large tarantula spiders reaches up to 11 cm, one of them - Blond's theraphosis - even entered the Guinness Book of Records with a leg span of 28 cm. Tiny spiders are just as amazing. Thus, the smallest species - pato digua - grows to only 0.37 mm!

The Patu digua spider is so small that it is difficult to distinguish even with such magnification that the papillary pattern of a human finger is visible.

Due to the spherical or pear-shaped abdomen, the body outline of most spiders is closer to a circle. But in nephilic orb weavers the body is elongated; in some species the abdomen can be diamond-shaped, heart-shaped, or strongly flattened.

Female Gasteracantha cancriformis ( Gasteracantha cancriformis) in his fishing net. This type of spider got its name (loosely translated from Latin as “spiny-bellied crab”) for its unusual body shape, in contrast to crab spiders, so named for their ability to move sideways.

The outline of the body can be distorted by long hairs and spines.

Curved or arched gasteracantha (Gasteracantha arcuata) is a relative of the previous species, but looks even more exotic.

Jumping spiders of the genus Simaetha are tiny (a couple of millimeters in size) inhabitants of the tropics of Southeast Asia. All representatives of this genus wear an outfit with a gold pattern.

The length of the legs also changes. U terrestrial species it is usually small, and spiders that weave webs and spend a lot of time in the thick of foliage are often long-legged.

The coloring of these arthropods can, without exaggeration, be anything, but given the predatory nature of spiders, it is almost always protective. Accordingly, the types temperate zone usually painted inconspicuously: in gray, black, brown tones - to match the earth, sand, dry grass. Tropical spiders are often brightly colored and have complex patterns.

Tveitesias are exceptionally beautiful, whose body is encrusted with shiny spots that look like sequins.

Silver-spotted Thwaitesia argentiopunctata.

In terms of their territory coverage, spiders can easily be called cosmopolitans. They live on all continents, in all climate zones and in all natural environments. Spiders are most diverse in the steppes, meadows and forests, but they can also be found in deserts, tundras, caves, among the glaciers of Arctic islands and highlands, in fresh water bodies, human habitations. By the way, spiders are one of the highest mountain animals - the Himalayan jumping spider lives on Everest at an altitude of 7000 m!

The prey of the Himalayan jumping spider (Euophrys omnisuperstes) are insects carried to Everest by the wind.

The habitat has left its mark on the lifestyle of different species. What all spiders have in common is perhaps predation and the associated tendency to be alone, although there are some exceptions. Social Philoponella and Stegodiphus prefer to build shared network, on which they hunt together...

Saracen stegodyphus (Stegodyphus sarasinorum) unitely attack an unlucky butterfly. This species lives in India, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

and Kipling's bagheera jumping spider, contrary to its predatory name, is herbivorous.

Kipling's bagheera (Bagheera kiplingi) carries in its chelicerae a bloodless victim - succulent appendages that grow on the leaves of some tropical acacias. Trees thus attract ants, which simultaneously protect them from pests, and the herbivorous spider uses these gifts free of charge.

Most spiders are sedentary, although among jumping spiders and wolf spiders there are many vagabonds who roam freely across the open spaces and attack oncoming insects of suitable size. Homebody species settle down in different ways. The most primitive of them hide from prying eyes in depressions in the soil: this makes it more convenient to hunt and defend themselves. Side-walking spiders (crab spiders) hide among flower petals; while sitting on one flower, they gradually change color to match their shelter.

What could be more idyllic than a butterfly drinking nectar? But a tragedy unfolds before us: the beauty actually fell into the clutches of a side-walking spider, indistinguishable in color from the flower on which it hunts.

But good camouflage does not solve all problems, because it is not enough to grab the victim, you also need to hold it, and looking out for prey for days on end is tiring. Therefore, spiders gradually moved from active ambush hunting to more reliable and passive methods of capturing prey. At the first stage, they began to dig deep holes, lining them with cobwebs for greater convenience.

The trapping tube of Cebrennus rechenbergi is woven from cobwebs encrusted with grains of sand on the outside.

More advanced species began to stretch threads from the burrow to neighboring stems - the result was an ideal warning system: the owner can rest in the burrow, and a crawling insect, having caught the web, will notify the spider of its approach and will be taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of a predator from underground. In some species, such signaling threads have developed into complex web funnels and tubes.

Other species began to improve not the warning system, but methods of prey retention. To do this, they began to close the holes with earthen plugs and not simple ones, but with hinges! Spider sitting on inside hatch, keeps him closed, so that it is completely impossible to see his home from the surface. As soon as the victim catches the signal web, the spider jumps out, drags the stunned insect into the hole, slams the lid and paralyzes it with a bite. In this situation, even strong prey has no chance of escaping.

An opened spider burrow with a raised lid and signal webs stretching in all directions.

However, burrow hunting does not allow spiders to get off the ground, so the most advanced species stopped building dens and began to be content with only a web, stretching it among grass, leaves and other above-ground objects.

When creating a web, the spider places it in places where prey is most likely to move, but so that gusts of wind, vibrations of branches, and movements of large animals do not tear it.

The fact is that spiders spend a lot of scarce protein on creating webs, so they value this material. They often eat torn webs, using them as raw materials for the production of new ones. The structure of the web ideally takes into account the characteristics of the favorite prey of a particular type of spider: in one case it can be threads randomly stretched in all directions, in another it can be a sector of a circle stretched in the corner of the shelter, in a third it can be a full circle.

A rainbow play of light on a circular web stretched in a gorge in Karijini National Park (Australia).

A thin cobweb seems fragile, but in terms of the thickness of the thread, it is one of the strongest fibers on Earth: a cobweb with a conventional thickness of 1 mm can withstand weight from 40 to 261 kg!

Water drops are much larger in diameter than spider webs, but cannot break them. When they dry, the web, due to its elasticity, will restore its shape.

In addition, the web is very elastic (can stretch up to a third of its length) and sticky, so the struggling victim only entangles itself even more with its movements. The web of nephil orb weavers is so strong that it can even hold a bird.

A tern becomes entangled in the web of a nephila orb weaver in the Seychelles. There is no threat to her from the spider, since the bird is too large for him. Usually in such cases, nephils simply cut off the webs so that the struggling prey does not ruin their entire network. However, the sticky web glues the feathers together, which can cause the bird to lose the ability to fly and die of starvation.

Some spiders additionally strengthen the web with special threads - stabiliments.

The North American spider Uloborus glomosus strengthened its web in a spiral with zigzag stabiliments.

It is difficult to imagine the creator of the web outside the air, but among the spiders there were such. Spiders from the genus of hunters wander among coastal vegetation in search of semi-aquatic insects, but on occasion they easily move along the surface of the water and even dive into its thickness, holding on to plants.

When crossing a body of water, the fringe hunter (Dolomedes fimbriatus), like water strider bugs, rests on the film of water tension.

The water spider does not leave the reservoir at all; among the underwater vegetation, it creates a dome of cobwebs, from which it extends hunting threads. The body of this spider is covered with hairs that hold air bubbles. The spider periodically floats to the surface in order to replenish their supply, and drags large bubbles with it and fills the space under the dome with them. In this air tent he lives and breeds.

A water spider (Argyroneta aquatica) and the air bell it created. The body of the spider itself is also surrounded by an air bubble, giving it a silvery tint.

Spiders breed in the tropics all year round, in the temperate zone - once a year, in the summer. Typically, male spiders are much smaller than females (in some species, 1500 times!), less often - almost the same size as them, and only in the water spider the males are a third larger than their females. In addition to their size, males, as a rule, also stand out for their bright colors. Mating in these arthropods occurs unusually - without direct contact of the genitals. First, the male fills the pedipalps with sperm and sets off on a journey with this gift. Having followed the scent of the female, he begins to solve the main problem: how to get close to his voracious and huge friend without awakening her hunting instinct? Different species follow different strategies. Some spiders warn of their appearance with a characteristic twitching of the web - this “bell” should make it clear to the female that this is not prey, but it does not always work, and often the suitor has to run away as fast as he can. Other males build a small mating network next to the female’s web: by twitching it rhythmically, they invite their friend to become more intimately acquainted. Male wandering spiders that do not spin webs perform a mating dance, raising their legs in a certain sequence, like traffic controllers. In some species, daredevils manage to involve the spider in the dance. Males of the amazing Pisaura mirabilis rely on a proven technique: they go on a date with a treat - a fly wrapped in a web. The most timid of spiders mate only with a recently molted female: with soft covers, she herself is defenseless and not prone to attack. During mating, the male inserts the pedipalps into the spermatheca of the female, sometimes entangling her with a web for safety.

Acrobatic sketch performed by a male peacock spider. In addition to raising their paws, males of all species of this genus also display an unusually colorful abdomen, raising it like a peacock’s tail. It is almost impossible to see this miracle in nature, since the size of peacock spiders is only a couple of millimeters.

Usually an intimate meeting takes place in private, but sometimes several males court one female and then they start fights among themselves. It happens that a female mates successively with several males. After mating, the spider often eats one or all partners. In some species, males survive by fleeing or stealing.

The male flower spider (Misumena vatia) climbed onto the back of the female and became inaccessible to her. This is for him the only way protect yourself after mating, since the partners’ strengths are too unequal. The same method is used by some types of cross spiders.

In more rare cases, the male and female part peacefully or even live in the same nest, sharing prey. A few days or weeks after mating, the female lays eggs in a web-like cocoon.

The cocoon of the brown agroeca brunnea is two-chambered: the upper chamber contains eggs, and the lower chamber contains a nursery for newborn spiders.

The fertility of different species varies from 5 to 1000 eggs; if there are many eggs, then there can be up to a dozen cocoons. The size of the cradle is small - from a couple of millimeters to 5 centimeters in diameter; the color can be white, pink, green, golden, striped.

The cocoons of Gasteracantha cancriformis are as unusual as these spiders themselves. Females attach their golden-black-striped cradles to the underside of the leaves.

If in relationships with males spiders demonstrate dark side own nature, then in dealing with offspring - light. Females carefully attach cocoons in a secluded corner of the fishing net, their own nest, or burrow, and stray species carry them with them, holding them with chelicerae or gluing them to the abdomen. Females of the Venezuelan common spider (Araneus bandelieri) weave a common cocoon, and some species, like cuckoos, throw their offspring into the nests of their neighbors. If the cocoon is left in a secluded place, then after hatching the spiderlings are left to their own devices. Until the end of the first three molts, they stay crowded together, and then scatter. Females who carry cocoons with them often take care of their offspring and spider after birth. They carry babies on their bodies and provide food.

A female of a species of Pisaura (Pisaura sp.) with a precious burden glued to her abdomen.

Young spiders living in open landscapes often resort to dispersal using webs. To do this, they climb higher on a stem or twig and release a web, but do not attach it as when weaving a net, but leave it dangling free. When the thread is long enough, the wind picks it up along with the spider and carries it far, sometimes hundreds of kilometers away. The years of such a web are especially noticeable in August-September.

A web with a brood of spiderlings. While the babies are small, they stay crowded.

In species of the temperate zone, wintering often takes place in the egg stage, but if young spiders overwinter, they often demonstrate resistance to cold and can appear on the snow during winter thaws. Most small spiders live no more than a year, the largest tarantula spiders in nature live up to 7-8 years, and in captivity they can live up to 20.

This is not snow, but a carpet of cobwebs covering the shore of one of the Australian reservoirs.

The prey of spiders is varied. First of all, their victims are those who are mobile, but not too strong insects- flies, mosquitoes, butterflies - they are the ones who have best chance get into the network.

If the victim is especially slow and defenseless, then the spider does not hesitate to attack prey many times larger than itself: a caterpillar, earthworm, snail.

Nomadic species and spiders that live in burrows are more likely to encounter flightless beetles and Orthoptera.

A very unusual method of hunting is used by the Hutchinson's Mastophora (Mastophora hutchinsoni). She weaves a web with a sticky drop at the end, hangs with this boleadoras in her outstretched paw and waves it until some insect sticks to the drop.

The largest tarantula spiders hunt mainly on small vertebrates - lizards, snakes, frogs. Occasionally, small birds (usually chicks) become their prey, which is reflected in their name and at the same time gave rise to the prejudice that tarantulas eat only birds.

Deinopis spiders (Deinopis sp.) first weave a square web, and then, holding it straight, sneak up and throw it on the prey.

Amphibiotic and water spiders catch tadpoles, aquatic insect larvae, fish fry and even small adult fish. Some species of spiders have a narrow food specialization, for example, they hunt only ants or spiders of other species.

Spiders never attack large vertebrates, but some poisonous spiders may bite in self-defense. Spider venom can be local or general. The local venom causes severe pain at the bite site, redness (blue discoloration), swelling and tissue death, in some cases so deep that internal organs are exposed. The general poison causes headache, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, mental agitation, skin rash, heart palpitations, kidney dysfunction, and in severe cases, suffocation and death. Fortunately, most poisonous spiders belong to tropical exotics, and among those common in densely populated areas, the most dangerous are the South Russian tarantula and karakurt.

The South Russian tarantula (Lycosa singoriensis), although notorious, is not as dangerous as the karakurt.

These spiders live in the grass of steppes and semi-deserts of Southern Europe, Asia and North America, and livestock also suffer from their bites, which in the past sometimes led to mass deaths of grazing camels, sheep, and horses. The venom of the karakurt is 15 times stronger than the venom of the viper, but unlike a snake’s, the spider’s bite is shallow, so cauterizing the bite site with a burning match is effective as first aid. True, this measure is life-saving only if applied immediately (within 1-2 minutes). If first aid was not provided, then the victim’s life can only be saved in a hospital with the help of anti-karakurt serum.

The female karakurt (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus) guards cocoons with eggs; during this period she is especially aggressive. The species shown in the photo lives in arid regions of Europe and Asia.

Although spiders seem to be dangerous and invulnerable predators, they are defenseless against many enemies. They are hunted by all kinds of birds, small animals, lizards, and frogs. Bustards, nostrils and dormouse do not give in even to poisonous species: the birds fill their stomachs with karakurts, and the animals hunt for tarantulas. Among the invertebrates there are also brave ones who are ready to snack on their eight-legged fellow. Spiders are attacked by praying mantises, mole crickets, predatory beetles and even... flies, although not ordinary ones, but predatory ones.

These female scorpion spiders (Arachnura melanura) exhibit intraspecific color diversity. Females of this species have an elongated abdomen, which they can move like a scorpion. Despite their menacing appearance, they do not have a stinger, and the bite of these spiders is painful, but not dangerous. Males are smaller and of normal shape.

Dead tarantula infected with cordyceps. The outgrowths that look like deer antlers are the fruiting bodies of the fungus.

This Thai argiope (Argiope sp.) sits in a fishing net with its legs folded in pairs and extended along the stabiliments. So it becomes part of the web pattern and ceases to interest others.

In this regard, spiders have developed a variety of means of defense (some of them also serve as adaptations for hunting). This should include patronizing connotation and body shape, as well as special poses.

Some spiders freeze in the center of the web with their legs outstretched, becoming like a stick; in this position, phrynarachnes and pasilobuses imitate bird excrement and even emit a corresponding smell that attracts flies!

Seeing danger, nomadic species take flight; spiders weaving webs, on the contrary, land on the ground; some species take a threatening pose with their paws raised high; small spiders shake the web so that their contours in the trembling network seem to blur.

The sickle-shaped pasilobus (Pasilobus lunatus) is indistinguishable from the excrement of small animals, but it only looks like that in sunlight.

As if as a reward for being unpretentious appearance nature has endowed this spider with the ability to glow in ultraviolet light.

Poisonous spiders bite, and tarantula spiders… shake themselves, while the hairs covering their body break off and rise into the air. If they enter the respiratory tract or skin, they cause irritation.

Rechenberg's already familiar cerebrennus never ceases to amaze: in case of danger, he flees by tumbling over his head!

It can only be surpassed by the golden-yellow carparachna that lives in the Namib Desert.(Carparachne aureoflava), which does not run away from enemies, but rolls head over heels from the dune, developing a speed of up to 1 m/sec. This speed is not so low, because to achieve it, the carparachna must make 40 somersaults over its head!

Paraplectana spider (Paraplectana sp.) in the outfit of a ladybug.

Some burrow spiders create three-chamber underground shelters to protect themselves from wasps: if the enemy managed to break into the first door, the spider moves to the next compartment of the burrow, which is also locked with a lid, and so on. In this case, the burrows can have such a configuration that the enemy is simply not able to find the spider in the underground labyrinth.

Female truncated cyclocosmia (Cyclocosmia truncata). This burrow spider, native to Mexico, uses the most original way protection - he plugs the entrance to the hole own body. The blunt end of the abdomen perfectly matches the size of the hole, so that a perfect plug is obtained, which is very difficult to pull out from the outside.

The front side of the abdomen of Cyclocosmia resembles an ancient seal.

Spiders have long evoked mixed feelings among people. On the one hand, they were feared because of their unpleasant appearance and poisonousness. The infamous karakurt in North America received the nickname “black widow”, and the word “karakurt” itself translated from Kazakh means “black death”. The subconscious fear of spiders is so strong that some people even today, with virtually no contact with dangerous species, are terribly afraid of these arthropods - such mental disorder called arachnophobia. On the other hand, people have always been fascinated by the ability of spiders to weave webs, and attempts have been made to derive practical benefits from this. Also in Ancient China They knew how to make a special “fabric of the eastern sea” from spider webs; the Polynesians used thick spider webs for sewing and making fishing nets. In Europe in the 18th-19th centuries, isolated attempts were made to make fabric and clothing from spider webs; in modern industry, spider webs are used in instrument making. However industrial production It was not possible to give rise to this material due to the difficulties of maintaining and breeding a huge number of producers. Nowadays, spiders are bred in captivity as exotic pets, and the most popular among hobbyists are large tarantula spiders, which are easy to observe. But other species of these arthropods also deserve protection as useful and very effective regulators of the number of harmful insects.

Brachypelma smithi (female) is one of the most popular tarantula spiders. Due to massive catching for sale in its homeland, Mexico, it has become rare.

Read about the animals mentioned in this article: horseshoe crabs, ants, grasshoppers, praying mantises, ladybugs, crabs, snails, frogs, snakes, lizards, peacocks, cuckoos, deer.

Spiders are predatory animals, so it’s not for nothing that they cause special hostility among most people. However, for others, arthropods are considered an interesting species.

Many people are interested in the peculiarities of living, feeding and reproduction of spiders. This interest especially increases after one or another arachnid appears in the house. There is also a need to study ways to get rid of insects.

A little about spiders

To date, arachnologists have counted about 40 thousand species of arthropods. Some species can also be found in Russia.

Enclosed spaces are unacceptable for spiders and only a few species survive in such an environment, which are of very little interest to people. They do not attack or suffer harm, but people usually become wary when they find cobwebs at home.

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As already mentioned, only a few species find enclosed spaces suitable for living. And the list of spiders living in Russia is even smaller.

The following types of spiders can be found in the house:

• Haymaker. A type of spider characterized by very long, thin legs protruding from a small body.
• Grey house spider.
• Hobo spider.
• Black house spider. You can understand the presence of this species by the characteristic tube-shaped web in the corners of the apartment. The insect is quite large - its body length is 13 mm. Despite its intimidating appearance, the black spider is considered harmless, but if it does bite, the attack will result in malaise, vomiting, nausea and dizziness for the victim.
• White spiders various types. Only white karakurts and flower spiders live in the CIS. These species live in open nature, but if one of these gets into your home, it is better to remove it immediately. An attack by such an insect can result in the death of the bitten person.

Reasons for spiders appearing in the house

Dark, damp and cool places are considered the favorite habitat of arthropods. Therefore, dark empty houses are considered very convenient and comfortable for them to live in.

Insects really like to hide under the bathtub, near the pipes or toilet - in simple words where it is damp and dark. The same situation applies to houses that have dampness or mold on the walls.

Spiders often crawl into a house to make money, so if there are flies, mosquitoes or cockroaches in the home, arthropods will also come in.

Let's celebrate! Another attractive factor for cold-blooded insects is unsanitary living conditions, which insects perceive as favorable conditions for a quiet existence.

What do spiders look like?

The set of spiders is very simple. Their body consists of only two parts - the cephalothorax and abdomen, which are connected by a thin stalk.

The cephalothorax is divided by a groove, forming the head and thoracic parts. And the first part of the spider has a mouth opening for sucking.

The first pairs of legs come out from the head, three more pairs from the chest of the predator.

How many legs do spiders have?

Despite the differences in species, taste preferences and external differences one characteristic is constant - all spiders have 8 legs.

The paws perform many receptor functions:

• With such tools, insects are able to smell;
• navigate in space;
• adheres to various surfaces;
• With the same tools, arthropods find food and sense approaching danger.

Note! So, cold-blooded people have paws instead of a nose, and instead of hearing, and instead of hands, and even instead of intuition.

On the territory of the Russian Federation, due to strict climatic conditions, only a few species of spiders live.

Not all of them penetrate homes, and more often they can be found only in forests, steppes and other open areas. But not all of them are friendly; some can bite a person, thereby signing his death warrant.

• Serebryanka is considered the first most common species in Russia. This is the only species of arachnid that can live on and under water. You can meet the insect in swampy areas, but the encounter is unlikely to be pleasant, since this type of spider is very poisonous.
• Cross spiders often hide in trees, bushes and clearings. Such representatives of arthropods are often found if you look in the territories temperate climate(cold and extreme heat are unacceptable to them). Despite the terrifying cross on its abdomen, this species is not considered dangerous.
• The desert and steppe regions of the country are considered the favorite habitat for South Russian Tarantulas, one of the most poisonous species on Russian territory. If you find a tarantula's hole, it will definitely attack and bite.
• House spiders are found in many apartments; their webs can often be seen in the bathroom or kitchen.
• For most of the country, knitting spiders are not uncommon, although it is difficult to see them, since the insects are well camouflaged and constantly hide from people. Knitters do not pose any danger to people.
• Jumping spiders are small jumping animals. This species loves glass surfaces, on which it most often overtakes its prey.
• The Black Widow or karakurt is considered the most dangerous and poisonous spider on Russian territory. This species is very aggressive and poisonous; many did not survive after being bitten by a black widow. The habitat of the karakurt is considered to be the Astrakhan and Orenburg regions, as well as the North Caucasus.

Are spiders insects or animals?

In fact, apart from their external resemblance to insects, spiders have nothing else. These are predatory animals that appeared on the planet several hundred years before the appearance of any beetles and mosquitoes.

In addition, spiders have a pair of more legs, they can weave webs, and their body consists of only two parts. Insects, on the other hand, are more complex in their collection, are considered omnivores and do not weave webs. For spiders they are just food.

What do spiders eat?

Spiders are considered predators, although different species have different dietary preferences:

• Spiders mainly feed on insects. For example, domestic species like flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, moths and others. But street predators prefer to feast on crickets, worms, grasshoppers and various larvae.
• Predators that prefer to live in burrows feed on beetles, orthoptera, worms and even snails.
• Spiders that hunt in the dark, such as night queens, prefer moths or their cocoons.
• Exotic species enjoy large-scale prey. For example, tarantulas love small rodents and small birds. And the Brazilian tarantula can swallow a grass snake or a small snake.
• Aquatic arthropods feed on small fish, tadpoles and other living creatures.
• The only species of cold-blooded animals that do not want to eat living creatures is considered to be jumping spiders. For him, the best delicacy is pollen, leaf pulp and grain crops.

Let's celebrate! Due to such different taste preferences, spiders hunt in different ways.

Predators obtain food in two ways:

1. By weaving a web, with the help of which the victim is immobilized and attracted to himself. The insect is treated with a special juice and then swallowed.
2. A way to get sticky saliva onto someone who wants to become lunch. Predators pull up the saliva and eat the prey.

How do spiders give birth?

Male spiders are extremely rare in nature. They fill themselves with sperm on their own and go in search of a suitable female. When the one is found, the male spider will have to look after her in every possible way, give her food and dance ritual enticing dances on the web.

If there are competitors, predators will have to fight for the female's attention. The winners end up with the female, while the losers mate with other males. But it is not clear who was luckier, because after mating, the female can eat her lover and only flight can save him.

In most cases, females prefer virgin self-fertilization and do not need males at all.

Let's celebrate! There are species of arthropods for which such behavior is considered savage. They live in families, sharing the responsibilities of reproduction, food production and general residence.

Are house spiders dangerous for humans?

One house spider does not pose a danger to humans. But if there are more than a hundred of them, they will still have to be exterminated.

Such species are usually poisonous, but a bite for large individuals cannot cause harm to health. Typically, the affected area is treated with a standard antiseptic, and the area heals quickly.

Let's celebrate! In addition, they attack extremely rarely, since residents of large apartments are perceived by them as excessive sources of danger, from which arthropods simply run away and hide.

Should spiders be exterminated?

If there are a lot of spiders, this cannot but cause thoughts of extermination. In addition, such predators are considered a sign of poor sanitation or the presence large quantity insects, so you will have to get rid of both cold-blooded ones and the cause of their occurrence.

How to get rid of spiders in the house?

There are many ways to get rid of spiders. But before you try this or that method of eliminating predators, you will have to thoroughly clean the apartment.

Remove cobwebs, wash everything well and try to clean it favorite places spiders under the bathtub or behind kitchen pipes. Then try to remove cockroaches and mosquitoes, which will deprive the spiders of food.

Usually, after such events, the arachnids disappear on their own, but if this does not happen, you should use effective chemicals or resort to traditional methods fight against arachnids.

Chemicals

To completely exterminate spiders, you can purchase a special aerosol Bros. During spraying, poisonous active compounds fall on the spider and begin to affect it nervous system. The predator stops feeding and weaving a web, after a while it stops moving and dies.

The spray has a long shelf life; after treating the room, spiders die within 3 months.

Let's celebrate! It is good to use universal means for exterminating both predators and insects, for example Joker Bun aerosol. After spraying, mosquitoes, ants, flies, cockroaches and spiders die.

Traditional methods

1. Plants. People often use horse chestnut fruits, which repel spiders and other insects. For the same purpose, nuts or orange mackerel are hidden around the apartment.
2. Essential oil. Insects and spiders cannot stand the smell of mint, so essential oil based on such a plant, it can be diluted with water and sprayed on areas where small pests accumulate. Soon all unwanted guests will leave the premises.
3. Solution with vinegar or lemon. The acid in vinegar and lemon is harmful to spiders, so they are used as a component of a solution with water. The resulting liquid is used to wash the floors, refrigerator, and wipe cabinets and doors. Jars with this liquid are placed under the bathtub and behind the toilet.

Signs about spiders

Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of methods of getting rid of them among folk remedies, grandmothers and great-grandmothers claim that spiders cannot be killed. In the old days, such households were considered harbingers of happiness and good luck.

Signs about spiders:

• If you went down on your head brown spider, you should expect the unexpected appearance of money.
• The black descending spider has long been considered a harbinger of bad news.
• Red spiders, which were noticed on clothes, were also considered harbingers of unexpected profits.
• Brown spiders on outerwear hinted at the appearance of a new thing.
• If a spider crawls along your hand, a person needs to make an important decision.
• A spider falling on the web hinted at the appearance of an enemy.
• If the spider, on the contrary, crawls up, it means that long-awaited guests will come to the house.

In addition, the great-grandfathers believed that when they caught an arthropod, they brought money to the house. And the gypsies specially caught spiders and planted them in nuts to make their wishes come true.

Prevention measures

The main guarantee of the absence of spiders in the house is cleanliness. Predators do not like it, since dirty and dark places with high humidity. Therefore, it is imperative to carry out general cleaning and if cobwebs appear in the corners, sweep them away immediately, because arthropods do not like to be disturbed and leave such houses.

It is better to store food in packaging cling film or in containers. Then there will be no spiders or midges in the house.

You should get rid of various insects; if predators have nothing to eat, they will not settle in the apartment.

Let's celebrate! Spiders amazing creatures. They have their own taste preferences, methods of catching prey and even marriage customs. Although for the most part such predators are not dangerous for people, after they appear in the house, it is better to get rid of them and think about the cleanliness of the apartment and the extermination of other insects.

Spider (Araneae) belongs to the phylum arthropod, class Arachnida, order Spiders. Their first representatives appeared on the planet approximately 400 million years ago.

Spider - description, characteristics and photographs

The body of arachnids consists of two parts:

• The cephalothorax is covered with a shell of chitin, with four pairs of long jointed legs. In addition to them, there is a pair of claws (pedipalps), used by mature individuals for mating, and a pair of short limbs with poisonous hooks - chelicerae. They are part oral apparatus. The number of eyes in spiders ranges from 2 to 8.
• Abdomen with breathing holes located on it and six arachnoid warts for weaving webs.

The size of spiders, depending on the species, ranges from 0.4 mm to 10 cm, and the span of their limbs can exceed 25 cm.

Coloring and pattern on individuals different types depend on the structural structure of the integument of scales and hairs, as well as the presence and localization of various pigments. Therefore, spiders can have either a dull solid color or bright color various shades.

Types of spiders, names and photographs

Scientists have described more than 42,000 species of spiders. About 2,900 varieties are known in the CIS countries. Let's consider several varieties:

• Blue-green tarantula (Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens)

one of the most spectacular and beautifully colored spiders. The tarantula's abdomen is red-orange, its limbs are bright blue, and its carapace is green. The size of the tarantula is 6-7 cm, with a leg span of up to 15 cm. The spider’s homeland is Venezuela, but this spider is found in Asian countries and in African continent. Despite belonging to tarantulas, this type of spider does not bite, but only throws special hairs located on the abdomen, and only in case of severe danger. The hairs are not dangerous for humans, but they cause minor burns on the skin, similar in effect to nettle burns. Surprisingly, female chromatopelma are long-lived compared to males: the lifespan of a female spider is 10-12 years, while males live only 2-3 years.

• Flower spider (Misumena vatia)

belongs to the family of side-walking spiders (Thomisidae). Color varies from completely white to bright lemon, pink or greenish. Male spiders are small, 4-5 mm long, females reach sizes of 1-1.2 cm. The species of flower spiders is distributed throughout European territory (excluding Iceland), and is found in the USA, Japan, and Alaska. The spider lives in open areas with an abundance of flowering herbs, as it feeds on the juices of those caught in its “embraces” and.

• Grammostola pulchra (Grammostola Pulchra)

Sidewalk spiders (crab spiders) spend most of their lives sitting on flowers waiting for prey, although some members of the family can be found on tree bark or forest floors.

Representatives of the family of funnel-web spiders place their webs on tall grass and branches of bushes.

Wolf spiders prefer damp, grassy meadows and swampy wooded areas, where they are found in abundance among fallen leaves.

The water (silver) spider builds a nest underwater, attaching it to various bottom objects with the help of webs. He fills his nest with oxygen and uses it as a diving bell.

What do spiders eat?

Spiders are quite original creatures that eat very interestingly. Some types of spiders may not eat for a long time - from a week to a month or even a year, but if they start, there will be little left. Interestingly, the weight of food that all spiders can eat during the year is several times greater than the weight of the entire population living on the planet today.
How and what do spiders eat? Depending on the species and size, spiders forage and eat differently. Some spiders weave webs, thereby organizing clever traps that are very difficult for insects to notice. Digestive juice is injected into the caught prey, corroding it from the inside. After some time, the “hunter” draws the resulting “cocktail” into his stomach. Other spiders “spit” sticky saliva while hunting, thereby attracting prey to themselves.

a snail or an earthworm and eat them there quietly.

The queen spider hunts only at night, creating a sticky web bait for unwary moths. Noticing an insect next to the bait, the queen spinner quickly swings the thread with her paws, thereby attracting the attention of the prey. The moth happily hovers around such a bait, and having touched it, it immediately remains hanging on it. As a result, the spider can calmly attract it to itself and enjoy its prey.

Large tropical tarantula spiders happily hunt small ones,

Haymaking spiders prefer cereal grains.

Judging by numerous notes by scientists, a huge number of spiders destroy small rodents and insects several times more than the animals living on the planet.

Why do house spiders appear on walls, ceilings in the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, disturbing a person’s peace and balance? There are several reasons for this. Arthropods have their own plans for people's homes. To what extent do they contradict the plans of the owners of houses and apartments? More on this below.

What types of spiders are there?

Spiders, represented by several species, live in the house with humans. Most often it is:

• haymaker (also known as centipede or windowcutter);
• black or gray;
• tramp.

The harvestman has a body with a round or oval abdomen, six or eight legs, which are its hallmark. The length of the window spider's legs reaches 5 cm. The centipede weaves complex, extensive webs that trap small insects. The spider guards the victim who falls into the web, and as soon as the active desire to escape makes her so entangled that she cannot move, she injects paralyzing poison into her.

In a house or apartment, the haymaker chooses places near windows or in dark corners, hanging mostly upside down. When large insects approach, the spider, guarding the web, tries to swing it as actively as possible.

Black or gray house spiders are noticeably smaller than harvest spiders. Their body length does not exceed 14 mm. The web of such spiders resembles a pipe in shape, which after each victim the arthropod returns to its original position, repairing damage. Most often, female gray and black spiders hunt for small insects in the house.

An interesting type of domestic arthropod is the vagrant. They can be distinguished by their elongated body and long legs. main feature spiders - absence of web. They don't need it for hunting. Vagrants attack their prey while jumping, instantly paralyze it with poison, and then actively eat it. Predators do not stay in one house for long.

For humans, the poison of tramps is not dangerous, given the characteristics of our climate. In countries with hot climates, spider venom can cause inflammation of the skin.

In addition to the arthropods listed above, other species may appear in the house, but this does not happen so often.

Spider in the house: good or bad

Spiders are not pets. They live in wildlife, but they can easily settle in a house or apartment if the living conditions are suitable for them and food is constantly available. By understanding what spiders feed on, you can prevent them from appearing in your home. Favorite delicacies of arthropods:

• mosquitoes;
• cockroaches;
• flies.

The answer to why there are many spiders in the apartment is simple - the more of these insects there are in the house, the more hunters will appear behind them. The solution to the problem is simple - tighten cleaning, including in hard-to-reach places.

How spiders get into the house

Arthropods appear in an apartment or house by penetrating:

• through windows;
• through doors;
• through the attic;
• through the basement;
• on clothes;
• on flowers or purchased plants brought from the street.

How good is this or, on the contrary, bad for a person and the main thing is whether it is necessary to kill uninvited “guests” if the fate is that spiders actively reproduce, littering the house with cobwebs and traces of vital activity. In fact, a lot depends on the superstitiousness of the home owners.

If they believe in omens, then most likely they consider spiders to be symbols of good luck, income, and success. However, signs associated with spiders are not always positive. Many, not knowing for sure whether spiders in the house are good or bad, believe that they can bring bad luck, illness, and even provoke adultery.

Is it necessary to exterminate arthropods?

Corners, windows and ceilings covered with cobwebs look untidy. If there are a lot of spiders in the house, it means that the cleaning there is carried out poorly, with hard-to-reach places being ignored. That is why the answer to the question of whether it is necessary to look for a remedy for spiders is in the affirmative. It is possible and necessary to fight arthropods, but it is better to do it humanely, especially if the goal is not to harm living beings.

The most humane method is to remove the spider from the house mechanically. Arthropods are manually collected in a jar or on a scoop, taken away from the house, and the cleanliness of the house is monitored, preventing their further appearance.

Spiders hibernate outdoors under leaves, in warm corners behind the bark of trees, so you can release them from your home at any time of the year.

Chemical preparations for arthropods - which ones to choose?

Considering how long spiders live (usually no more than a year), you might think that fighting them is pointless. However, one must remember the ability of arthropods to actively reproduce. The new generation of spiders will replace the old one so quickly that it will be almost impossible to achieve cleanliness in the house without cobwebs and dry bodies of their victims without special means.

The most effective chemicals are:

• "Butox 50".
• Dry trap tablets.

"Butox 50" is a simple and affordable product, easy to use. Use it after carefully studying the instructions on the package. To achieve the result, it is enough to spray surfaces where spiders often visit, after preventing the entry of spiders. clean air through windows and doors. After the product wears off, ventilate the room.

The drug "Nero" enjoys well-deserved trust among specialists. Just as in the previous case, it is necessary to study the instructions for using the product. In places where food, children's toys, and dishes are stored, the product is used with extreme caution, protecting vulnerable items and products with film.

An alternative to aerosols, often with a pungent odor, are tablets, also known as traps. They are produced in dry form, lure spiders, and then poison them with poison. The method is simple and effective, but far from humane.

How to fight spiders using traditional methods

Folk remedies and methods will help in the fight against spiders if the case is not advanced. The simplest method, as noted above, is to get rid of the food source of arthropods: cockroaches, midges, mosquitoes and other insects. You shouldn’t feel sorry for the cobwebs woven by predators in the corners of the house. It is better to clean it with a damp cloth, taking the spiders along with it.

In a private house, with an abundance of vegetation under the windows and in the yard, it makes sense to use boric acid in the fight against spiders. A special effect can be achieved by combining acid with a vacuum cleaner, which can easily remove all spiders, including those from hard-to-reach places.

It is believed that spiders do not like the aroma of citrus fruits, chestnuts and hazelnuts. If you place particles of products with odors they hate around the house, especially in places where they accumulate, you can achieve a deterrent effect.

Not the easiest, but effective method- home renovations. Spiders cannot stand the smell of paint, whitewash, or putty. Replacement of flooring, wallpaper followed by spring cleaning will get rid of arthropods for a long time and help refresh the interior.

Another folk remedy against domestic arthropods is mint. Even a small amount of a fragrant plant placed in the corners of the house will scare away spiders. You can enhance the effect with the help of peppermint aromatic oil, sprayed through a spray bottle around the house in spider habitats. The same effect can be achieved using eucalyptus or tea tree oil.

Order: Araneae = Spiders

The reproduction biology of spiders, in terms of the complexity and originality of the observed phenomena, surpasses everything that is characteristic of other arachnids, and this is again due to the use of the web.

Sexually mature male spiders are usually very different from females in their lifestyle and appearance, although in some cases males and females are similar. Usually the male is smaller than the female, with relatively longer legs, and sometimes males are dwarf, 1000-1500 times in volume fewer females. In addition to size, sexual dimorphism is often manifested in certain secondary sexual characteristics: in the bright pattern of males, in the special shape of individual pairs of legs, etc. Males, as a rule, are found less frequently than females, and in some species they are not found at all. At the same time, the virgin development of eggs in spiders appears to be a rare exception. In tenet spiders, sexually mature males usually no longer build trapping nets, but wander around in search of females and are caught in the female’s nets in short period mating.

The internal organs of the reproductive system of spiders generally have a fairly common structure. The testes are paired, convoluted vas deferens are connected near the genital opening, which in the male has the appearance of a small slit. The ovaries are paired, in some cases fused at the ends into a ring. Paired oviducts connect into an unpaired organ - the uterus, which opens with the oviductal opening. The latter is covered by a folded elevation - the epigina. There are seminal receptacles - sacs from which the tubules extend to the excretory part of the genital tract and to the epigyne, where they usually open independently of the ovarian opening.

The copulatory organs are formed on the male's pedipalps only during the last molt. Before mating, the male secretes a drop of sperm from the genital opening onto a specially woven arachnoid mesh, fills the copulatory organs of the pedipalps with sperm, and during mating, with their help, introduces sperm into the seminal receptacles of the female. In the simplest case, on the pedipalp tarsus there is a pear-shaped appendage - a bulbus with a spiral spermatic canal inside (Fig. 35.5). The appendage is extended into a thin spout - an embolus, at the end of which a canal opens. During mating, the embolus is inserted into the female's seminal receptacle. In most cases, the copulatory organs are more complex, and the ways of their complication can be traced within the order and are somewhat different in different groups spiders Usually the tarsus of the pedipalps are enlarged. The articular membrane of the bulbus turns into a blood receptacle, which, at the moment of mating, swells like a bubble under the pressure of the hemolymph. The spermatic canal forms complex loops and opens at the end of a long embolus, tourniquet or other shape. There are often additional appendages that serve for attachment during mating. The structure of copulatory organs in detail is very diverse, characteristic of individual groups and species, and widely used in the taxonomy of spiders.

The male fills the pedipalp bulbs with seed shortly after the last moult. The sperm mesh has a triangular or quadrangular shape and is suspended horizontally. The male immerses the ends of the pedipalps into a drop of sperm secreted onto it. It is believed that sperm penetrates through the narrow canal of the embolus due to capillarity, but it has now been established that at least in forms with complex copulatory organs there is a special seminal suction canaliculus. In some spiders, the male does not make a web, but pulls one or several webs between the legs of the third pair, releases a drop of sperm onto the web and brings it to the ends of the pedipalps. There are also species whose males take sperm directly from the genital opening.

The male, with copulatory organs filled with sperm, goes in search of a female, sometimes covering considerable distances. In doing so, he is guided mainly by his sense of smell. He distinguishes the odorous trail of a mature female on the substrate and her web. In most cases, vision does not play a significant role: males with blurred eyes easily find females.

Having discovered a female, the male begins “courtship”. Almost always, the male’s excitement manifests itself in certain characteristic movements. The male twitches the threads of the female's net with his claws. The latter notices these signals and often rushes at the male as prey, causing him to flee. Persistent “courtship,” sometimes lasting for a very long time, makes the female less aggressive and prone to mating. Males of some species weave small “mating nets” next to the female’s snares, into which they lure the female with rhythmic movements of their legs. In burrow-dwelling spiders, mating occurs in the female's burrow.

In some species, repeated mating with several males and competition between males is observed, which gather on the female’s snares and, trying to get closer to her, fight with each other. The most active one drives away rivals and mates with the female, and after some time another male takes his place, etc...