spider: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Oct. 17, 2026

Facts

Also Known As	araneid • Araneae • Araneida

Photos and Videos

Curtain web spider

Goliath bird-eating spider (Theraphosa blondi), a large brown tarantula, resting on rough, light-colored tree bark.

Illustration comparing the sizes of four spider species-the giant huntsman, goliath birdeater, joro spider, and ground wolf spider-shown as silhouettes next to an average adult male hand for scale, with a vertical ruler on the side for precise measurement.

A female joro spider (Trichonephila clavata) with a yellow and black striped abdomen sits at the center of her web, with a blurred green background.

An adept predator

Black widow spider

Labeled diagram of a spider showing its external anatomy, including the cephalothorax, abdomen, eyes, legs, fangs, pedipalps, spinnerets, and other key body parts.

Extreme close-up of the large, glossy eyes and hairy face of a female zebra jumping spider, Salticus scenicus, showing fine detail of the eyes and surrounding hairs.

Cross-sectional diagram of a spider's trichobothrium, showing a long tactile hair (seta) anchored in a socket. Labeled parts include the bothrium, membrane, helmet, nerve processes, and cylinder.

Labeled cutaway diagram of a spider's internal anatomy, showing the brain, venom glands and ducts, sucking stomach, gut ceca, heart and aortae, digestive tract, book lungs, tracheae, silk glands, ovaries, spermatheca, spinnerets, and reproductive openings.

Witness an orb-weaving spider using silk wrappings to immobilize grasshopper prey

Close-up of a golden wheel spider, crouched on sand with long pale legs spread wide.

A man sleeps with his mouth open on a bed, while a large spider sits on the pillow near his hand.

Watch a water spider create its underwater house

Know how some spiders walk on the surface of the water

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Topics

Labidognatha Mygalomorphae 9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders segmented spider How do spiders make circular webs?What is the largest spider in the world?Do We Really Swallow Spiders in Our Sleep?Types of Spiderwebs Why are people afraid of spiders?How many eyes does a spider have?scorpion acarid tick daddy longlegs mite sunspider false scorpion whip scorpion tailless whip scorpion

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