eXtreMe ArachniDs 1
• "Arachnid" isn’t just a highfalutin word for spider. Spiders are arachnids, but not all arachnids are spiders.
Arachnids are members of a class of animals that includes spiders,
scorpions, mites, and ticks. What they all have in common—and what
distinguishes them from insects—are four pairs of legs and no antennae.
• The spider world has its own Goliath—the Goliath birdeater tarantula (Theraphosa leblondi).
Found in the coastal rain forests of northeastern South America, this
spider can be as big as a dinner plate and has been known to snatch
birds from their nests. The spider world’s David? The smallest spider
is a mygalomorph spider from Borneo. Its body is the size of a pinhead.
• A spider might give Superman, the Man of Steel, a run for his money. Some silk made by orb weaver spiders rivals the tensile strength of steel.
It’s been suggested that the silk would be more effective than Kevlar
in bulletproof vests. One problem: corralling a group of territorial
spiders to produce the tough stuff. In addition, each spider produces
so little silk that it wouldn’t be practical to become a spider farmer.
• Almost all spiders carry venom, but its purpose is
to stun or kill their insect prey, not to attack humans. Of the known
spider species, only about 25 are thought to have venom that has an
effect on humans. The two bestknown venomous spiders in the U.S.— the
black widow and the brown recluse—have not been proven to have caused
any deaths in more than two decades.
The brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa, often
gets a particularly bad rap. While its natural range is in the
south-central United States, people all over the country blame bites on
this species.
• Australia’s most notorious spider, the Sydney
funnel-web spider, has not been known to cause any deaths since 1980.
In this species, the male spider’s venom is more toxic than the
female’s—a rarity among spiders.
• Spiders produce seven kinds of silk, ranging from
the sticky stuff to trap and wrap their prey to superstrong threads for
support. Spiders also use their silk as parachutes and to shelter
themselves and their young. The various types of silk are produced by
different specialized silk glands and nozzles called spinnerets. No one
spider is able to produce the full range of silk.
• Spiders have evolved numerous ways to catch their prey,
which is mostly insects but can also be frogs, fish, lizards, snakes,
and birds. Some spiders are masters of disguise, blending into their
background so that they look like parts of a flower or a leaf. Others
hide under "trapdoors," jumping out of their hiding places to snatch a
passing meal. Still others can leap many times their body length,
covering great distances to grab their prey.
• Bolas spiders "fish" for moths by dangling a
sticky strand of silk impregnated with a substance that is similar to
the pheromone that moths use to attract mates. Some spiders can walk on
the surface of water. Others live underwater.
ExTrEmE ArAchNiDs 2
• Spiders eat spiders. Females sometimes eat
their mates, even while they are mating. Some spiders specialize in
hunting down other species of spider and have evolved ways to grab
them, even when their victims are in the center of their
strongholds—their webs.
• Spiders are hunted as much as they are hunters.
Birds, lizards, snakes, scorpions, and other spiders all prey on
spiders. Some insects also hunt down spiders, including the mantis and
a wasp that specializes in catching and paralyzing spiders. The wasp
buries the spider alive, so that its young can feed on fresh food when
they hatch.
• Most spiders have eight eyes. Some have no eyes and
others have as many as 12 eyes. Most can detect only between light and
dark, while others have well-developed vision. Experiments have
demonstrated that some spiders can recognize and respond to specific
shapes on television monitors. However they’re equipped to see, all
spiders have highly evolved systems to detect prey and danger.
• Some cultures have found ways to use a spider’s trap to get their own meals. In the South Pacific native people have made fishing nets from a spider’s silk. People encourage nephila spiders to build webs between two bamboo stakes, which are then used for angling.
• A spider eats about 2,000 insects a year, so
spiders are good to have around the home. The reward for the trouble?
All too often, a smack with a newspaper. Spiders are usually killed by
people because the arachnids seem scary, not because they’re dangerous.
• If you are bitten by a spider, the California
Poison Control Center recommends keeping the wound clean and treating
the symptoms that follow. If the bite becomes infected or does not
heal, see a physician.
• Some cultures chomp down on spiders as a delicacy and have
been doing so for hundreds of years. In the South Pacific people have
eaten the same spiders they use to weave fishing nets—with some diners
saying the cooked spiders taste nutty and sticky like peanut butter. In spots in Southeast Asia, street vendors sell fried spiders to passersby.
• According to urban legend, the daddy longlegs—those gangly creatures
that seem to hang from corners around the house—are poisonous, but have
mouths too small to bite humans. The name "daddy longlegs" is used in
several countries to refer to a few different species—including
harvestmen, which aren’t actually spiders and have no venom—and spiders
in the family Pholcidae, which are not known to have venom that affects
humans.
• Pesticides won’t successfully knock out spiders.
The highly mobile eight-legged animals will come back to an area that’s
been sprayed because, unlike insects, they’re not strongly affected by
residual pesticides. To prevent spiders from coming inside the house,
arachnologists suggest sealing off any cracks or gaps where spiders can
slip in. But to control insects that can cause damage to your property—such as termites—why not let their natural predators, spiders, inside to do the work?
wEb WoNdErs
Web Wonders
Spider-spun architectural masterpieces come in two major varieties: the
two dimensional orb webs that resemble a delicate circular fishing net
of silk, and the dome-shaped or haphazard masses of silk fanning out in
three dimensions. 3-D webs are the sort you might find nestled in
crevices on a cliff-face or suspended between the rafters of your
house, said Blackledge.
Although known spider species number more than 37,000 worldwide,
compared to approximately 4,200 known mammal species, most spiders live
in burrows or are opportunist prey-snaggers. Of the 10,000 web-crafting
spider species, 60 percent build webs of the 3-D design.
Scientists now believe that 2-D web-weaving group of spiders represent
the more primitive variety from which 3-D web weavers evolved. It
seemed plausible that the complex and energy-consuming 3-D webs "might
be involved in defense as well as foraging," said Blackledge.
"Silk is expensive and can be seen as limiting because spiders go to so
pains to recycle it, eating old, disused webs," commented William
Shear, an entomologist at Hampden-Sydney College, in Virginia.
In fact, spiders suffer a surprising amount of insect predation. Other
studies have shown that island outbreaks of some species of
spider-preying wasp can reduce local populations of web-building
spiders by up to 77 percent. In addition, "a single wasp species in the
Caribbean has been shown to seize 30 times the number of spiders
captured in a day by a total of 15 different…bird species," said
Blackledge.
Mud-dauber wasps capture and paralyze their prey, said
Blackledge, carrying up to 30 of the still-living spiders back to tiny
mud or paper nests. A single egg is laid in the nest, which hatches 10
days or so later to reveal a larva yearning to snack on the still-fresh
spiders.
Blackledge and his insect biologist colleagues: Rosemary G.
Gillespie at the University of California, Berkeley and Jonathan A.
Coddington of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., decided
to test the idea that 3-D webs evolved partially as a defensive
adaptation. The researchers amassed tens of thousands of figures from
spider-predation studies published in the last 100 years.
BrOwN rEcluSe SpiDer-BitEs
Many diagnoses of brown recluse spider bites come from areas apparently
outside of the brown recluse’s habitat. Brown recluse spiders are found
mostly in the central and southern U.S., an area that includes Texas,
Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, parts of Illinois, Indiana,
and Georgia. Brown recluse spiders also inhabit the states bordering
the Gulf of Mexico.
Yet Vetter has fielded reports of brown recluse bites from
Wisconsin, New York, even Alaska and Canada. In virtually every case,
systematic searches in those places have turned up no brown recluse
spiders.
In one analysis, Vetter counted 188 reports of brown recluse
bites in three years in California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.
But only 15 brown recluse spiders have ever been found in those four
states. "These bite diagnoses are everywhere, and yet no one can find
the spider," Vetter said. "Show me the spider."
Even where brown recluses do live, people overestimate their
risk, Vetter said. In one recent case in Kansas, a family of four
collected more than 2,000 brown recluse spiders in their house during a
six-month period. The family found spiders on the paper towel rack,
crawling up the stairs, and lurking in piles of laundry. "There were
four people living in that house for six years," said Vetter, who wrote
about the case in the November issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology. "Guess how many bites? None."
Vetter and colleagues have recently embarked on a project to census
brown recluse spiders in northern Illinois and southern Iowa. Similar
studies elsewhere should provide doctors and the public a better
understanding of brown recluse spiders.
"These spiders are dangerous and they can cause nasty wounds," Vetter
said, "but the perception of the brown recluse as a serious health
threat is overstated."
eGyPtIaN CaMeL SpIdEr
Camel spiders became an Internet sensation during the Iraq war of 2003,
when rumors of their bloodthirsty nature began to circulate online.
Many tales were accompanied with photos purporting to show spiders half
the size of a human.
For many years, Middle Eastern rumors have painted camel spiders as
large, venomous predators, as fast as a running human, with a voracious
appetite for large mammals. The myths are untrue. These insects do not
actually eat camels’ stomachs or sleeping soldiers, and they are not so
large—but the real camel spider is still an amazing predator.
The camel spider’s history of misinformation begins with a
misidentification. Camel spiders are not even spiders. Like spiders,
they are members of the class Arachnida, but they are actually
solpugids.
Camel spiders, also called wind scorpions and Egyptian giant solpugids
(SAHL-pyoo-jids), are only about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long. Photos
that purport to show creatures six times that size have misleading
perspective—the spider is invariably placed in the foreground where the
lens makes it appear much bigger than its actual size. True, they are
fast, but only compared to other arachnids. Their top speed is
estimated at 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour.
Camel spiders are not deadly to humans (though their bite is painful),
but they are vicious predators that can visit death upon insects,
rodents, lizards, and small birds. These hardy desert dwellers boast
large, powerful jaws, which can be up to one-third of their body
length. They use them to seize their victims and turn them to pulp with
a chopping or sawing motion. Camel spiders are not venomous, but they
do utilize digestive fluids to liquefy their victims’ flesh, making it
easy to suck the remains into their stomachs.
dEsTrOyInG CoMpEtItIon
Competition is fierce, and as many as eight males will compete for the
attentions of a single female. During mating the male deposits a small
piece of his copulatory organ inside the female. Called a sperm plug,
it prevents the other males from fertilizing the female’s eggs. So in
order to pass on his genes, the male redback spider has to be the first
to mate with the female.
"On the one hand, they want to provision themselves to survive
this trip," said Andrade in the release. "On the other hand, they have
to develop quickly so that they become sexually mature in time to mate
with these virgin females before the females mate with someone else."
Andrade and Kasumovic found that male redback spiders can
determine at an early age whether it would be more beneficial to speed
up sexual development or to steadily build ample fat reserves.
"We call it ’scent of a woman,’" said Andrade in the release.
"They do this without contact — they smell how many females are around
them."
Kasumovic reared male redback spiders in the presence or
absence of females in a laboratory at the University of Toronto at
Scarborough, said the press release. The spiders were not allowed to
see or touch one another, so the only cue to a female’s presence was
her pheromones.
"What we were mimicking there was a situation where a male is
developing as a juvenile in a habitat with lots of females close by —
in other words, he doesn’t need to be well-provisioned — versus a
situation where female webs are very far away and he would need to be
well-provisioned to survive the trip to find her," said Kasumovic in
the release.
When males could smell females they developed rapidly, trading body size
Arachnophobia. What are the most lethal species of spider in Australia?
Tuesday April 15th 2008, 3:59 am
Filed under:
NaRutO
| Arachnophobia. What are the most lethal species of spider in Australia? |
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Spiders are the most significant controllers of insect pests and as such their importance should not be underestimated.
Australian spiders are classified as either mygalomorphs or
araneomorphs. The mygalomorphs include funnel web spiders, they use
silk to build homes on the ground or in tree holes. The araneomorphs
mainly use silk to help them escape from danger. They are the more
highly evolved species of spider.
Funnel web spiders are uniquely Australian, and are capable of
delivering fatal bites. They are known to be highly resistant to spray
pesticides. They will not be found in open places, as they need cover.
Highly adaptable creatures, they may live in house foundations or
garden shrubberies as well as bushland. Funnel webs eat frogs and
lizards as well as insects.
Female red-back spiders have also been responsible for several
deaths in Australia. They like to live in dark, dry places: under
rocks, logs or dense shrubs. They build snares just above the ground so
that when their prey becomes stuck, the release of tension causes the
prey to be hoisted up to them.
Red-backs are also found in New Guinea, the western pacific and
across Asia, where they may have originated. They belong to the same
family as the infamous black widow spider.
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creeps
| Creepy Crawlies |
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Yet
another category of the animal kingdom which prompts widespread
revulsion is arthropods, which make up an incredibly diverse group of
creatures. They include insects, spiders, scorpions, and centipedes.
In fact, there are far more species of arthropods than species of
all the creatures on Earth combined – possibly numbering tens of
millions.
It’s been suggested that people have a greater fear of spiders than
they do of dying. And yet, few pose any legitimate lethal threat to a
healthy adult. Only eight spider species which are classed as harmful
to humans, and statistically you are more likely to be killed by a
flying champagne cork than by the bite of a poisonous spider - which
has to be cause for celebration.
Of course, there are several that can cause injuries which range
from severe to the mild – from bites that produce gruesome flesh-eating
wounds, to painful bee stings that cause nothing more than mild
inconvenience and perhaps a ruined picnic on a warm summer day.
Black widow Spider - Latrodectus
- Size : 38mm long, 6.4mm diameter
- Description: Black and shiny with a red mark on its bulbous abdomen.
- Habitat: Widow spiders live in temperate and tropical zones around wood piles, under eaves, and secluded outdoor locations.
- Attitude: The black widow is not aggressive, but will bite instinctively if touched or threatened.
Damage: Intense pain, slight local swelling. In extreme cases –
severe abdominal cramps, nausea, fever, tremors, breathing problems.
Reaction to the black widow spider bite depends on the area of the body
bitten, amount of venom injected, and sensitivity to the venom.
Fact - These spiders are called ‘widows’ because females
often eat the male after mating. Brown Recluse Spider - Loxosceles
reclusa
Size : 7-12mm long
Description: Light to medium brown with darker
markings. Six eyes rather than the usual eight. • Habitat: Native of
southern U.S. and Mexico.
Attitude: These spiders have a tendency to wander -
often unnoticed - into close proximity with humans. They respond to
perceived threats with a nasty bite.
Damage: Local and temporary skin irritation in mild
cases. Painful and swollen in others, with blisters forming. Cells
around the wound begin to necrotise to flesh – turning it black and
eating it away. Occasionally the victim experiences a life-threatening
systemic reaction.
Fact - There is no commercially available antidote or antivenom in the United States for the bite of the brown recluse spider. Scorpions
- Size : 30mm-200mm
- Description: Approximately 1,300 species worldwide
- characterized by an elongated body, pincers, and a segmented tail
that is tipped with a venomous stinger. All of the potentially lethal
scorpions belong to the family Buthidae.
- Habitat: Mostly arid regions, but also savannah, forests, and even mountains.
- Attitude: Despite their reputation, only one U.S. species and approximately 20 others worldwide are considered to pose a threat to humans.
- Damage: Pain and burning sensation often are present, with nausea and vomiting also common.
In extreme cases involuntary muscle reactions cause
respiratory problems occasionally resulting in death. All scorpion
stings should be treated as medical emergencies. Fact –
The scorpion’s ancestors lived in the sea around 440 million years ago. They measure up to 1m long. Centipedes
- Size : 30mm – 300mm
- Description: Elongated multi-segmented arthropods
with a single pair of legs on each body segment. There are about 3,000
species of centipedes in 20 different families – the largest,
Scolopendra gigantean, measures up to 300mm
- Habitat: Worldwide, except for polar regions.
- Attitude: Centipedes are speedy predators – some of which feed on small mammals. All are equipped with venom which paralyses their prey.
- Damage: Mainly Severe pain, local tissue swelling,
headache, palpitations, and nausea. In rare cases the wound may
necrotize – only one fatal case exists, where a child in the
Philippines died after being bitten on the head. Fact –Venom is
injected through ducts when the centipede’s front legs are driven into
the victim’s tissues.
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super hero
Sunday April 13th 2008, 6:38 pm
Filed under:
NaRutO Universe
Marvel Universe
Real Name
Peter Benjamin Parker
Aliases
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Sensational Spider-Man, the Spectacular Spider-Man, "Tiger," Spidey, Webhead, Webslinger, Wall-crawler, "Little Man"; formerly "the Amazing Octo-Spidey", Bag-Man, "Bookworm," Captain Universe, Dusk, Hornet, Mad Dog #336, Man-Spider, Prodigy, "Puny Parker," Ricochet, Scarlet Spider, Spider-Hulk, Spider-Phoenix
Identity
Secret
Occupation
Freelance photographer; former assistant high school coach, science teacher, scientific researcher
Citizenship
U.S.A.
Place of Birth
Forest Hills, New York
Known Relatives
Richard Parker (father, deceased), Mary Parker (mother, deceased), Benjamin Parker (uncle, deceased), May Parker (aunt), Will Fitzpatrick (grandfather), Benjamin Reilly (Scarlet Spider, clone, deceased), Kaine (clone), other clones (deceased)
Group Affiliation
Avengers, formerly the Secret Defenders, "New Fantastic Four", the Outlaws
Education
College graduate (biophysics major), doctorate studies in biochemistry (incomplete)
Height
5′10"
Weight
165 lbs.
Eyes
Hazel
Hair
Brown
Powers
Peter can cling to most surfaces, has superhuman strength (able to lift 10 tons optimally) and is roughly 15 times more agile than a regular human. The combination of his acrobatic leaps and web-slinging enables him to travel rapidly from place to place. His spider-sense provides an early warning detection system linked with his superhuman kinesthetics, enabling him the ability to evade most any injury, provided he doesn’t cognitively override the autonomic reflexes.
Note: his power enhancements through his transformation by the Queen and after battling Morlun - including his organic web glands and stingers - have been undone after Spider-Man’s deal with Mephisto.
Abilities
Peter is an accomplished scientist, inventor and photographer.
Weapons
None
Paraphernalia
Spider-Man designed and constructed several devices that he traditionally carries as part of his full costume. This includes twin artificial web-shooters worn at the wrists, spare web cartridges attached to his belt, spider-tracer devices attuned to his spider-sense, the spider-signal light, and a compact camera. He has reconstructed his web shooters out of a high density plastic to avoid metal detectors, and has added modifications to detect low web-fluid levels, and propel spider-tracers.
For a time while allied with Iron Man, Spider-Man wore a costume that was equipped with filters in the mouth area to keep out toxins and allow him to breathe underwater, audio amplification, visual amplification (including vision in the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths), a short-range GPS microwave communication system (with a built-in fire, police, and emergency scanner), and retractable webbing under his arms that allow short bursts of gliding. The costume was made of a material that could serve as a bulletproof jacket against small caliber bullets. For the first upgrade to the costume, Stark added three mechanical waldo arms, which can grab and move objects as well housing cameras which transmit images back to the costume’s eyepiece. The waldoes can also be used offensively in combat. The costume is now built out of a liquid metal nanofiber material allowing it to quickly change in appearance upon mental command into anything from Spider-Man’s civilian clothes to his former costumes, as well as providing camouflage by blending with the surrounding colors.
First Appearance
Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
Origin
Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
Significant Issues
First cross-over with the Fantastic Four (Amazing Spider-Man #1, 1963); J. Jonah Jameson explained why he hates Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man #10, 1964); Spider-Man and Green Goblin discovered each other’s identities, Green Goblin becomes amnesiac (Amazing Spider-Man #40, 1966); Green Goblin remembered Spider-Man’s identity (Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2, 1968); Peter discovered the truth about his parents’ occupation and cause of death (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5, 1968); Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy (Amazing Spider-Man #121, 1973); Harry Osborn discovered Spider-Man’s identity (Amazing Spider-Man #134, 1974); Peter encountered the first Gwen Stacy clone (Amazing Spider-Man #143, 1975); Spider-Man’s clone Ben Reilly first appeared (Amazing Spider-Man #149, 1975); Peter’s life history told and origin retold (Amazing Spider-Man #181, 1978) Peter proposed to Mary Jane for the first time (Amazing Spider-Man #182, 1978); first appearance of the alien symbiote (Secret Wars #8/Amazing Spider-Man #252, 1984); Peter proposed to Mary Jane for the second time (Amazing Spider-Man #290, 1987); Mary Jane accepted Peter’s proposal for marriage (Amazing Spider-Man #292, 1987); Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson married (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, 1987); Mary Jane announced she is pregnant (Spectacular Spider-Man #220, 1995); Spider-Man (temporarily) quit being Spider-Man (Spectacular Spider-Man #229, 1995); Aunt May discovered Peter is Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man #35, 2001); joined the New Avengers. (New Avengers #3, 2005); died after battle with Morlun (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3, 2006); reborn (Amazing Spider-Man #527, 2006); discovered new powers (Amazing Spider-Man #529, 2006); received new costume from Tony Stark (Amazing Spider-Man #529, 2006), publicly revealed identity (Civil War #2, 2006