Fun Orb-weaver Spider Facts For Kids
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The group of orb-weaver spiders is large which makes it difficult to distinguish it from others. Amongst all the Orb-weaver spider family, Araneidae is one of the most varied in size.
They can be recognized with the help of the large spider web that they make. The formation of their webs is a circular grid that looks like the decorations in Halloween.
The webs of orb-weavers are a build-up of strands of silk that give you similar looks to the circular strand and their web has a covering of some sticky substance. This sticky covering helps them capture or catch some flies and little animals (prey). Generally, they prefer using sticky dry fibers and silk to build up their webs.
The web is large. They have a tough white and irregularly shaped abdomen.
These are pale brown in color and have a soft silky texture with a violin-shaped mark on their heads. If seen in their small natural locations, one can find them hanging in their webs.
There are garden orb spiders belonging to the family of Argippinae which are found in North America and can be found in grassy areas and bright color forms, like brown and white.
In the year 2006, from the fossils in Spain, the oldest orb weaver was found, named Mesozygiella dunlopi, the Araneida orb weavers have a fused head and thorax.
They have eight legs and mouthparts similar to the fang. Most of them are hairy and have spiny legs. They can be found throughout in brown or grey colors.
To know more about these fascinating animals, we have gathered a set of interesting facts about them for you to read.
Orb-weaver spider Interesting Facts
What type of animal is an orb-weaver spider?
Orb-weavers are a type of spider, an arachnid.
What class of animal does an orb-weaver spider belong to?
Orb-weavers belong to the class of Arachnida.
How many orb-weaver spiders are there in the world?
There is no clear answer to how many orb-weaver spiders are currently on earth.
Where does an orb-weaver spider live?
The orb-weaver spiders can be found in gardens, fields, and forests.
What is an orb-weaver spider's habitat?
A variety of species can be found for the orb weavers, which makes them a large family. There is a finite number of habitats that are used by them for building their webs.
These species can be easily found in any of the classic garden, grassland, and woodland habitats. They can also be found in suburbs and cities within any handmade structure.
Who do orb-weaver spiders live with?
They live in their own packs and flee away if seen by humans.
How long does an orb-weaver spider live?
Orb weaver's life span is about 12 months. The entire process starts from mature in summer, mate, followed by laying of eggs and die in late summer-autumn.
How do they reproduce?
Around summer, the female weaver lays her eggs. The eggs are wrapped around a silky cocoon and thereafter attached to foliage.
They mature in summer and mate. They mate either at the center of the web or the male mounts the web with some mating threads inside and outside so as to attract the females and thereafter mating occurs and they lay their eggs.
In late summer or summer-autumn, they die. In general males and females have identical sizes.
It is perceived that the bigger the female the more spider eggs are produced, therefore more offspring. The spiderlings disperse during autumn by a process called ballooning and once they disperse they mount their tiny orb webs somewhere in their suitable habitat.
What is their conservation status?
Orb-weaving spiders are Not Listed in IUCN as per their conservation status.
Orb-weaver Spider Fun Facts
What do orb-weaver spiders look like?
The orb weavers are bright in color, have fine hairy or spiny legs, and a large abdomen. Depending upon the species, the orb-weaver's size of the abdomen keeps on varying.
One can find the nocturnal orb weavers in either brown or gray color. The species of the orb-weaver known as diurnal exhibit bright colors. They can be yellow or orange with beautiful black markings on their body.
How cute are they?
These spiders are tiny ones, with beautiful patterns of color which makes them look cute.
How do they communicate?
They have chemoreceptors in their tarsi that are used in chemical detection and olfaction. An airborne pheromone is released by female marbled orb-weavers which helps them attract and communicate with their male mates.
How big is an orb-weaver spider?
The garden orb weaver is 0.78-1.57 in (2 -4 cm) in length for the female and for the male it's 0.59-0.78 in (1.5-2 cm).
How fast can an orb-weaver spider move?
The speed of the orb-weaver cannot be determined.
How much does an orb-weaver spider weigh?
The weight of newly hatched golden silk spiders, or orb weavers, is 0.024 oz (0.07 g) and for the adult females, it is 0.141 oz (4 g).
What are their male and female names of the species?
There is no different distinguishable name for the male or females of this species.
What would you call a baby orb-weaver spider?
Like all other baby spiders, they are called spiderlings.
What do they eat?
They are carnivorous which means that prey on other creatures for their meal. Most of these spiders are insectivorous and eat insects and other invertebrates. The common prey for orb weavers includes small insects such as flies, beetles, moths. However, some big orb weavers might also prey on some small hummingbirds, frogs.
Are they poisonous?
The bite of orb-weaving spiders is of much lower risk to humans, they are not toxic and don't have venom in them, so a bite is not really harmful. They form a group of non-aggressive spiders.
If an individual severely provokes the orb webs or the spiders they can give a painful bite. This would only cause redness and blistering. They do not harm the people and pets and can be beneficial as they catch all the pest-type insects present and eat them up.
Would they make a good pet?
Some species of this family are kept as pets in the United States. Because of the large size of the spiders and the bright coloration body they are kept as pets. Moreover, it is not much of common practice in any of the geographical areas.
Did you know...
The spider can change the color of the thread for intensity, and it is able to adjust the amount of pigment in the silk.
It is easy to recognize most of the species with the help of the structure they have, and easy to identify spider species. This spider is non-aggressive and causes no harm to human beings.
The size of the female golden orb spider abdomen can be up to 1.18 in (30 mm) long. The tiny 0.19 in (5 mm) gets dwarfed by the male in size as well as weight.
The silk acquired from this species is strong. If there were the possibility to weave a single line of silk that has a similar thickness to a small pencil, it could withstand and repel a 747 jumbo jet at max speed.
With the help of webs silk, we can make traps and fishing nets.
On the islands of the Indo-Pacific, the fishermen roll the nets into a ball and throw them out in the water. The net then opens up and can be used to fish.
After the female Madagascar orb-weaving spider grows fully, the size can be that of a large saucer. This orb spider is giant and beautiful, can be found not only on Madagascar but also on the east coast islands of Africa, and in South Africa. These species are widely spread across their habitat.
Even a small bite from this orb weaver spider would be painful, but would not hurt humans for a longer period of time.
How big are orb-weaver spider's webs?
The spiny orb-weaver spins a large circular web of 6 ft or more, most commonly between buildings and shrubs. Sometimes the size of the orb-weaver web can go up to 19 ft (6 m) across trees or buildings.
How often do orb-weaver spider's spin their webs?
Every night the females of orb-weaver re-spin their web.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one on our spider coloring pages.
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Bachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management
Moumita DuttaBachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management
A content writer and editor with a passion for sports, Moumita has honed her skills in producing compelling match reports and stories about sporting heroes. She holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta University, alongside a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management.
Bachelor of Arts specializing in Political Science and Sociology
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Spandana holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Acharya Nagarjuna University. She has a passion for writing and enjoys reading crime and thriller novels while listening to RnB music in her free time.
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