Is A Spider An Animal? Curious Insects Facts Revealed For Kids!
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Spiders are not insects, they are in the class of Arthropods and their cousin species are scorpions, ticks, and mites.
Spiders don't have bones. They have an exoskeleton, similar to insects that don't have wings or antennae.
Spiders are basically invertebrates and they have a segmented bodies. Their bodies are segmented into two parts. Spiders are closely related to scorpions, mites, and ticks and it's a big myth that spiders are insects.
They have four pairs of legs and have two compound eyes. They prey on animals with the help of their webs. Like other arachnids they also feed on insects.
Spiders prey on the insects that get trapped in their webs. Spiders are very different from insects, even though their eight legs make them look like some species of insects. A spider has one head, a thorax, and an abdomen, whereas an insect has a segmented abdomen.
If you enjoyed this article, why not also read these spider facts and learn is a snail an insect.
What kind of animal is a spider considered?
Spiders are a group of arthropods and they are in the class Arachnida. There are over 45,000 species of spiders all across the globe. Some of them are the jumping spider, the tarantula, and wrap around spider. There is even a species of vegetarian spider in the invertebrate kingdom.
A lot of people mistake spiders as an insect species due to their body parts. However, like arachnids, they have a thorax and their bodies mainly have two parts.
Spiders are poisonous but it's very rare that they can kill animals with their poison. They rely on insects for their food and like some animals, spiders are carnivorous. A spider's venom is strong enough to kill small prey animals.
However to cause major complications, a common spider needs to be as big as a tarantula. A very common way to distinguish between spiders and insects is that spiders have four pairs of legs, total of eight legs, whereas an insect has six legs.
Is a spider an insect or an animal?
Spiders are not insects. They are animals that belong to a group of families called arthropods. These groups include some insects and crustaceans such as a crab or a lobster, but that does mean spiders are insects.
Spiders are very important to humans as well because their staple food is insects. Some domestic spiders weave silk webs and wait for an insect to fly into it.
The insect get caught in the center of the sticky web and then the spider preys on it. There are other spiders that are used for agriculture purposes because they prey on insects that are found on crops, helping farmers.
Spiders help the food supply a lot by eating crop insects.
Some spiders do not rely on silk webs to catch insects but they search for them on the ground. It depends from species to species on how they catch their prey and they use their compound eyes to help them in their search.
Most spiders in the invertebrate kingdom are cannibals. Once they catch insects in their webs, they first prepare them for eating by injecting them with digestive fluids and then feed on liquid form of what is left of the insect.
Almost all species of spiders can weave webs. Their webs are very strong and they have flexible protein fibers which help to catch prey and make it difficult for their prey to escape.
Even though spiders have eight eyes and six legs, they do not help them. Most species cannot see very well, but jumping spiders are an exception. Jumping spiders can see more colors than humans, and jumping spiders that hunt in the day can even see the red spectrum and the green spectrum, and even UV spectrums.
How is a spider classified?
There are over 45,000 species of spiders around us and they are found all over the globe.
There are different classifications of spiders. They are classified based on their habits, what they eat, how they catch their prey, and even their habits. Classification even depends on the anatomy.
What is a female spider called?
Female spiders are a little bigger in size than male spiders and show different behaviors as well.
Female spiders are not as common, almost 80% of the spiders we see are male spiders. Females are called epigynum and are darker in color. They don't roam much and hence they are seen less often.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Is a spider an animal? Curious insects facts revealed for kids!
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