Muton has some splendid photos of fossil spiders.
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Arachnids (you know, spiders and mites and things) never had much of a presence in my photo galleries. While I could chalk their absence up to an obsessive focus on formicids, the reality is that I'm mildly arachnophobic. Photographing spiders makes me squirm, so I don't do it very often.
Oddly…
Tom Pennington/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, via Associated Press
First, rock snot. Now, giant spider webs that cover acres. One more screwy thing, and I'm stocking up on canned goods. From the New York Times:
Most spiders are solitary creatures. So the discovery of a vast web crawling with…
Spiders are amazingly sophisticated animals, and probably the premiere complex adaptation of modern spiders is the ability to spin silk. They have multiple internal glands that can produce multiple kinds of silk — webs contain different kinds, from structural strands to adhesive strands, and other…
During my recent trip to New York I found some time to visit the American Museum of Natural History. I wanted to see their spider exhibit, you see.
Of course, step one was finding the place. Seventy-eighth and Central Park West, as I recall. Ah, this looks right:
The exhibit itself was a…
i have mygalomorphs living in my room right now. those big, powerful spiders are a thing of beauty.
H. lividum is a particularly beautiful creature amongst many.
also, check out the solfugids, the infamous "camel spiders". tip: they do not get bigger than 6". they are not poisonous. they cannot jump.
they are amazing animals though.
I recently heard a hypothesis (I have no idea whether there is any basis for it or not) that spiders (or some 8-legged ancestor of spiders) evolved before 6-legged insects. The wings of insects are (according to this hypothesis) a mutation of two of the legs of the pre-spider, leaving 6 legs.
Does anybody know whether this is generally accepted or not?
The part I liked was, "thus this occurrence extends the family record by some 90 myr". What a thrill for Selden et al.
My education here is continuing apace. 'Lagerstätten' is now part of my reading vocabulary.
Thank you PZ.
Ewww.
I don't like spiders.
Daryl -- insect wings are probably repurposed gills. Check down a few entries in this very blog for some more information.
That's certainly an interesting idea, insects evolving from arachnids, but there's good reason to think otherwise, that insects are instead most closely related to crustaceans.
Insect segments:
1: H1: Eyes
2: H2: Antennae
3: H3: none (crustaceans: second pair of antennae)
4: H4: Mandibles (mouthparts)
5: H5: Maxillae (mouthparts)
6: H6: Labium (mouthpart)
7: T1: Legs, wings in very early insects
8: T2: Legs, wings
9: T3: Legs, wings
10: A1: none (crustaceans may have additional pairs of legs)
Arachnid segments:
1: H1: Eyes
2: H2: Chelicerae (fangs)
3: H3: Pedipalps ("arms")
4: H4: Legs
5: H5: Legs
6: H6: Legs
7: H7: Legs
8: A1: none
H = head / prosoma
T = thorax
A = abdomen / opisthosoma
So spiders walk with limbs that insects eat with.
That's not a fossil spider!
This is a fossil spider!
(I can't find photos of the fossil cast itself. I'll have to hunt down some postcards at the museum.)
probably too late for anyone to read this, but hereis Megarachne, the monster fossil spider.
Isn't there a limit on the size land-based invertebrates can reach? what about land-based invertebrates that molt in the sea? that could make for some big bastards.
i love spiders
oh i say
lookin at these spiders makes me even scared than what i was so why show them. the people out thare that has a phoia of them and you still show them WOW there spiders you dont see them puting pictures of you all over the computer so why do it. i just dont no why people think that they have the right to do something like that at the end of the day some might bite because people are winding them up takeing pictures i dont see many people takin pictures of ants etc....... WHY DO IT .ITS WRONG IN MY EYES............
i don't like spiders but i do like turtles so i am happy with a turtle any day
thats just the way roll!!
thats just the way roll!!
I hate spiders! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! They are so gross how could you like them?
thats just the way roll!!
thats just the way roll!!