Araneae Temporal range: Pennsylvanian – Holocene, 319 mya to present
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An assortment of different spiders. | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
Class: | Arachnida |
Order: | Araneae Carl Alexander Clerck 1757 |
Suborders | |
Diversity[1] | |
113 families, c. 46,000 species |
Spiders (class Arachnida, order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods. They have eight legs, and mouthparts (chelicerae) with fangs that inject venom. Most make silk. The spiders are seventh in number of species of all animal orders.[2] About 48,000 spider species, and 120 families have been recorded by taxonomists.[3] Over twenty different classifications have been proposed since 1900.[4]p3
Spiders live on every continent except for Antarctica, and in nearly every habitat with the exceptions of air and sea. Almost all spiders are predators, and most eat insects. They catch their prey in several ways. Some build a spider web, and some use a thread of silk that they throw at the insect. Some kinds of spiders hide in holes in the ground, then run out and grab an insect that walks by. Others will make web 'nets' to throw at passing insects. Or they go out and simply attack their prey. Some can jump quite well and hunt by sneaking close to an insect and then jumping on it.
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