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A Few Impressive Spider Facts You Need To Know

Though many are overcome with a good case of the willies when confronted with spider facts, and worse yet encounters, they are fascinating and very useful creatures indeed. We tend to so quickly squash and scream, even go so far as to call our neighbor to help us be rid of a furry, hefty looking visitors sneaking around beneath the basement staircase.

If these spider facts can convince you to take a moment and reconsider, then they are certainly worth the time spent jotting them down.

• Spiders are not insects, but are actually eight legged invertebrates. Insects have three sections to their bodies, whereas the spider has only two major body parts aside from the legs, which are the thorax and the abdomen.

• The other major difference is, of course, the number of legs, insects having only six and spiders boasting eight.

• The arachnid is an invaluable link in the predatory chain, helping to control the potential overpopulation of insects which could wreak havoc on crops, fields, forests, and homes. We view them as suspicious, scary, creepy, and unwelcome. And it is true; we don’t need them in our homes particularly.

• There are over 30,000 known and identifiable species of spiders in the world. There are some species who can reach the size of a standard dinner plate, while others are nearly undetectable to the naked human eye.

• Though most spiders have eight eyes, there are a couple of exceptions to every rule in nature. The various types of recluse spiders have only six eyes, but this doesn’t seem to affect their ability to hunt.

• More amazing yet, the wolf spider that is indigenes to North America has only one set of eyes, which is located right at the front of his thorax, rather than affixed to the sides of the thorax like those of his fellow arachnids.

• Every spider has venom in their fangs; though very few of them are even detectable to humans aside from the occasionally annoying itch.

• Despite common folklore, daddy long legs are not believed to have the most deadly venom to humans, though it is quite potent.

• The Brazilian Wandering Spider, or what we refer to as the banana spider, is actually the most deadly to humans. It is reported that these spiders thriving in countries such as Argentina are enormous and extremely aggressive, and that shotguns are often used to control them in produce fields.

• The tarantula, one of the most dreaded and intimidating arachnids, which is indigenous to many tropical and desert regions worldwide, cannot affect humans with their venom. It is a painful bite for certain, but the aftereffects fizzle out quickly.