Two New Miniature Spider Species Discovered In China
Pensoft Publishers Two new minute spider species have been discovered from the Sichuan and Chongqing, China. The tiny new spiders are both less than 2 mm in length, with Trogloneta yuensis being as little as 1.01 mm and Mysmena wawuensis...
Latest Arachnids Stories
Rayshell Clapper for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online After learning about human genetic engineering, many readers might want to find out about some examples of genetic engineering. Both bizarre and beneficial, the following article highlights some truly fascinating and pragmatic examples of modern genetic engineering. The Biotechnology Forums, a website for professionals and students in biotechnology (the area that studies genetic engineering) recently explained some of these...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Movies and comic books are primarily based on fantasy, but a new study shows how one particular concept involving Spider-Man might be more feasible than most superpowers. University of Leicester physics students found Spider-Man's webbing strength would hypothetically be strong enough to stop a moving train. In the movie Spider-Man 2, the Marvel comic character uses his webs to help stop a runaway train before it plummets off the...
Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online For over the last half-century only four species of mountain scorpions were known to inhabit the state of Arizona, but in the past six years that number has doubled. There are now ten species known to exist, and while all belong to the same group, the most recent scorpion was only recently discovered sharing the habitat with another scorpion species. The Vaejovis brysoni, which was found in the Santa Catalina Mountains in southern...
Researcher and team are the first to measure all of the elastic properties of an intact spider's web, drawing a remarkable picture of the behavior of one of nature’s most intriguing structures. The work could lead to new “bio-inspired” materials that improve upon nature. As fibers go, there’s never been anything quite like spider silk. Stretch it. Bend it. Soak it. Dry it out. Spider silk holds up. It is five times stronger than steel and can expand nearly a third greater than its...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Scientists are unraveling the mysteries of what makes the fiber that spiders spin five times as strong as piano wire. A team from Arizona State University found a way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk from several spiders' webs using non-invasive laser light scattering techniques. "Spider silk has a unique combination of mechanical strength and elasticity that make it one of the toughest materials we...
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Onlinebla In certain parts of the U.S. – Arizona, for example – black widow spiders are quite common. While this familiarity might not make them any less frightening, people in these areas are at least aware of the tiny eight-legged predators and know how to respond when they happen to cross paths with one of these potentially deadly arachnids. Recently, however, these spiders have been showing up in some very unusual places,...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online While salt licks may be one intelligent ploy by man to attract deer for hunting, its got nothing on the method used by one Amazonian arachnid. One tiny spider in the Peruvian Amazon builds an elaborate decoy spider, and hangs it from its web in order to trick predators into getting stuck in its web. The artful dodger takes it time crafting up decoys from dead insects, debris and leaves as what scientists suspect is a defense...
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The idea of the stay-at-home-dad has been getting its legs lately. Sure, we started off with quaint 80’s comedies, like ‘Mr. Mom’ and ‘Three Men and a Baby’, but, like the subject of this article, we are slowly evolving past focusing on the hijinx and silliness of the situation and viewing the caring paternal relationship in a more real light. We have experts, pundits and private-citizens who are arguing the merits of the...
MyCleaningProducts recommended to the public the use of its non-toxic spider spray when clearing the arachnids in the houses. The company made the recommendations in its new published article. Seattle, WA (PRWEB) October 11, 2012 A spider spray can make a spider infestation either a failure or a success. Misinformation can have the same effect. And so to help homeowners implement a truly effective house spider elimination, MyCleaningProducts published a post about the top three house...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Researchers at Oregon State University have found an extraordinarily rare fossil. Trapped in amber is what the research team describes as the only example of a spider attack on prey caught in its web – a 100 million year old snapshot of an engagement frozen in time. Found in the Hukawng Valley of Nyanmar, the fossil dates from the Cretaceous between 97 and 100 million years ago. Giving some evidence to oldest examples of spider...
Latest Arachnids Reference Libraries
Arachnology is the scientific study of spiders and related specimens: including scorpions, pseudo-scorpions and harvestmen. These animals are collectively known as arachnids. Ticks and mites, on the other hand, although are in the arachnid family, do not typically fall under archeology studies; these small creatures are usually studied under Acarology. Arachnology derives from the Greek words arachne (meaning spider), and logia (meaning sayings). People who study spiders and other...
The Kauai Cave Wolf Spider (Adelocosa anops) is a species of spider that exists only in a few caves in a six square mile lava flow in the Koloa-Poipu region of Kauai, Hawaii. Only six populations are known to exist. It is locally known as the "Blind Wolf Spider". This spider is very rare and since its discovery in 1971, only about 30 specimens have been recorded. This species is totally blind, and has evolved to have no eyes. The adult is about 0.78 inches long and is reddish-brown. It is...
The Triangulate Cobweb Spider (Steatoda triangulosa), also known as the Triangulate Bud Spider, is a species of common house spider that is found throughout the world. It is found along the coasts in North America, in southern Russia, in New Zealand, and in Europe. It is largely believed to be native to Eurasia. This spider is well known for the triangle-shaped pattern on the upper side of its abdomen. The adult female is 0.13 to 0.25 inches long. It has a brown-orange cephalothorax...
The Tube Web Spider (Segestria florentina), also known as the Cellar Spider (both of these names are not considered specific names for this species), is a species of arachnid found in Europe. It was originally found in the Mediterranean region as far east as Georgia. It can be found in several large British towns where they were most likely introduced via seaports since at least 1845. In places such as Bristol, Cornwall and Gloucester, it prefers south-facing walls for its habitat. It has...
The Daddy-long-legs Spider (Pholcus phalangioides), also known as the Cellar Spider or Skull Spider, is a species of arachnid found in many parts of the world, but originally came from the tropics. They are commonly found living in caves, garages, ceilings of household rooms, and cellars. In Australia, it is considered a beneficial species as it kills and eats the venomous redback Spider. There is some confusion with the common name "daddy longlegs". This name is also applied to two other...
