In addition, spiders have moveable claws on their feet that grip and release the web’s threads as they walk. They will typically avoid walking on the sticky silk. Many spiders use webs to entangle their prey, but have you ever wondered how spiders themselves don’t get stuck? The short answer is that spiders are able to spin sticky and non-sticky silk. In nature there are many different types of web weaving spiders- there are the orb, funnel, sheet, and cob weavers. It is hard to not notice that during Halloween we decorate our homes and yards with craftily constructed webs complete with spider effigies. Illustration from the Sheet Music of Spider to the Fly (McCurrie & Weber, San Francisco, 1875). Some scientists suggest there are over 42,000 species with many, many more left to be discovered. We do not know the exact number of species of spiders worldwide. There is even a spider with horns, the Spined Micrathena! The Biodiversity Heritage Library showcased this spider in its Book of the Week: Halloween Special blog post, along with the illustrated 19th century American Spiders and their Spinningwork. They range from the minute pinhead sized Patu digua to the goliath tarantula (Theraphisa leblondi) whose legs can span a dinner plate. The diversity of colors, shapes, and sizes found in ‘Spiderdom’ is astounding. I suffer from a case of Arachnophilia (love of spiders). , Tarantula, 1955 & Arachnophobia, 1990), and nursery rhymes (e.g., There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly and Little Miss Muffet). One can find pictographs of spiders on the walls of the ancient site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, as well as references to spiders in mythology, creation stories, folklore, art, jewelry, poetry, literature, songs, medicinal remedies, Hollywood movies (e.g. Without a doubt, we have forged a special relationship with these eight-legged wonders. Spiders have been spinning their webs across the planet for hundreds of millions of years. McCook’s American spiders and their spinningwork, v II, plate I.
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