The spider is one of the species of orb weavers. Orb-weaving spider: what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats

29.10.2019

Araneus mitificus or “spider Pringles“

a typical representative of the Asian fauna, distributed from India, Nepal and Bhutan to Australia. A notable feature of the cross spider is an exact copy of the mustachioed face from Pringles chips packages, located in the place of the traditional cross. These spiders hunt only from ambush, and their networks are always missing one section, but there is a signal thread stretched into the shelter. The size of adult females is 6-9 mm, males - 3-5 mm, but their modest sizes do not prevent spiders from proudly wearing the “face” of popular chips.

Araneus ceropegius, Aculepeira ceropegia)

lives in thickets of bushes and tall grass of forest edges, groves and temperate gardens climate zone. Oak crosses live in Europe, Russia, northern Africa, as well as in Asian countries north of the Himalayas, excluding the Arabian Peninsula. Females and males are characterized by an abdomen pointed at both poles and a well-pubescent cephalothorax. The length of the female cross is 1.2-1.4 cm, the male - 0.7-0.8 cm. The upper side of the brown abdomen is decorated with a light herringbone, and below there is an elongated yellow spot.

or meadow cross(Araneus quadratus)

Found in damp, open grassy areas. Lives in Europe, Central Asia, Russia, Japan. The shape, size and color are very similar to the common cross. On the upper part of the abdomen, the cross spider has 4 round light spots or 4 dark dots, depending on the basic color of the body. Below is a blurry leaf-like pattern. The main body color varies from light green and carmine to black-brown. There may be light stripes on the paws. The length of females is 1.7 cm, males are half as long. Adult female cross spiders can change color and blend in color with their surroundings.

Araneus sturmi

A rare orb-weaving spider, it lives primarily in coniferous forests in the Palearctic region (Europe, Russia, Asia north of the Himalayas, northern Africa). The maximum body length of these spiders is 5.5 mm, females are usually longer than males: the length of females is 5-5.5 mm, the length of males is 4 mm. The modest size of the cross is compensated by the variety of colors. The usual color of individuals of both sexes is reddish-brown, but very beautiful red-yellow-green specimens are also found. Distinctive feature of this species of cross spider are “epaulets,” dark areas in the front part of the abdomen.

(Araneus alsine)

typical inhabitant of moist deciduous forests temperate zone. Externally, this spider resembles a meadow cross and has 4 similar large spots on the abdomen, but differs in color, which is dominated by orange and beige tones. The spider's abdomen is dotted with small light spots, so the spider looks like (hence its English name "strawberry spider" - strawberry spider). Females of the chilly cross grow from 7 to 13 mm, the length of males is 5-6 mm.

The horned spider, or spiny orb-weaving spider (lat. Gastercantha cancriformis) belongs to the family Araneidae.

This small spider looks like a crab. Latin name The species cancriformis translates as “crab-shaped”, and the genus name is formed from two words gaster and acantha, which mean “belly” and “thorn”.

Spreading

This species is widespread in Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica and El Salvador. In the US, it is often found in California and Florida, especially around Miami Beach and the Atlantic coast. Individual populations inhabit many islands in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

IN last years the horned spider was also discovered in Colombia and Dominican Republic. To date, two subspecies of G.c. are known. cancriformis G.c. Gertschi.

Behavior

The spiny orb weaving spider prefers to live in mangrove forests and damp areas on trees and shrubs. He is distinguished by enviable hard work. Every evening weaves new network in the shape of a circle, in adult females it can be up to 30 cm in diameter.

It is placed on branches in an almost vertical position, most often at a height of about 6 m above the ground, and the animal itself is located at the bottom of its hunting structure, waiting for prey.

Smaller males live on threads placed near the female's nets. They do not hesitate to sometimes feed on her trophies, after rhythmically tapping the threads with their paws. This politeness allows them to stay alive and not be eaten by mistake. Up to three gentlemen can feed from their girlfriend's table at the same time.

The diet consists of all kinds of flying insects. Prey includes fruit flies, whiteflies, beetles and moths.

Reproduction

There is still no reliable information about the characteristics of the reproductive behavior of horned spiders in wildlife. All data is obtained only as a result of laboratory observations. It is unknown whether a female naturally mates with only one or several males.

The mating season occurs in late spring or early summer.

The gentleman who has decided to procreate warns the lady about the seriousness of his intentions with four quick blows to the edge of the net. He repeats them until the beauty demonstrates her attitude towards him. If she doesn’t like the applicant, she will simply drive him away.

If the answer is positive, the male approaches his chosen one and, in order not to fall, joins her with the help of a thread. Mating lasts about 35 minutes and is repeated several times with short breaks.

The female lays eggs in the fall, ranging from 100 to 260 eggs in one oblong cocoon of golden or less often greenish color. It attaches nearby to the underside of the leaves.

The cocoon is attached first with thin whitish and yellowish threads, and then with thicker and stronger dark green ones. This entire structure is additionally equipped with a special canopy.

After graduation construction work mom is dying. Her life expectancy does not exceed one year. Males live for about 3 months and die one week after mating.

The spiders hatch in winter and remain together for two to five weeks, and then scatter in different directions.

Description

The body length of females is 5-9 mm, and the width of their abdomen is 10-13 mm. The main background of the opisthosoma varies from white to orange, in some regions it can be black. Six spike-like processes extend from it, which are black or red. They are located along the edges of the opisthosoma in a diagonal order. Sometimes the tips of the spines are orange.

The shape of the spines and coloration have many regional differences depending on the habitat. The upper part of the opisthosoma is covered with miniature blackish dots like craters, arranged in four rows.

The body length of males is 2-3 mm. Theirs is more elongated, not wider. The abdomen is gray, covered with white spots. The spines are faintly noticeable, they can hardly be distinguished, no more than 4-5 pieces. The legs are short.

The bite of this horned spider is not dangerous to humans. It causes short-term pain, swelling and redness of nearby tissues.

P Darwin's spider (Caerostris darwini) is a very interesting individual of spiders from the orb-weaving family. Darwin's spider is named after naturalist Charles Darwin. His main feature is a web that is of particular interest to scientists.

How Darwin's spider was discovered

Darwin's spider was discovered on the island of Madagascar in national park Andasibe-Mantadia. This discovery was made in 2001, but the spider was described only in 2009. This delay in the description of this species is due to the fact that its name is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's work "The Origin of Species". In 2009 Caerostris darwini was first described by Matjaz Kuntner and Ingi Agnarsson, but the description was published in 2010.

Where does he live? Caerostris darwini

As mentioned above Caerostris darwini was found on the island Madagascar. This island is considered the only habitat of this type of spider. Only 12 species of spiders of this family were found on this island. In principle, it can be found everywhere, but the Darwin spider gives the greatest preference to places with water areas. It weaves its webs mainly over the surface of rivers, but you can run into its web on an ordinary path.

Description and behavior

For spiders of the species Caerostris darwini characterized by sexual dimorphism. Females are usually much larger than males. Females have a body length of 18 to 22 millimeters, while males have a body length of about 6 millimeters. Females are usually black with white hairs on the abdomen and appendages. The limbs are about 35 millimeters long, and males have limbs about 15 millimeters long. Males are usually either red or light brown. The behavior of spiders also has an individual character, since the spider’s hunt for prey differs from its relatives. They suspend a ball over a river or the water surface of a lake and release a web in the wind until it touches the other shore. In this way they form a kind of bridges, which are the basis of their trap.

Interest of scientists

The interest of scientists in this type of spider lies in the fact that the Darwin spider, which itself is not large in size, simply weaves a gigantic and very strong web. Gigantic, because the area of the spider web ranges from 900 to 28,000 square centimeters. The length of the “cable” web is about 25 meters. But the most important thing is the web itself. The tensile strength of this type of web ranges from 350 to 520 MJ/m³, while the ultimate strength of Kevlar is 36 MJ/m³. So that you understand, body armor is made from Kevlar for special units. The Darwin spider's web is a highly complex mixture of elements that is being studied by scientists from all over the world.

Class: Arachnida Lamarck, 1801 = Arachnida
Order: Araneae = Spiders
Family Araneidae = Orb-weaving spiders

From the personal life of orb-weaving spiders

* Read more: Orb-weaving spiders; Cross spiders; Curious facts about Spiders

The evolution of spiders followed primarily changes in behavior rather than changes in morphology. That is why there are so many works on the biology of reproduction, network building and other aspects of the life of spiders. And something new is being discovered all the time.

Arachnologists T. Bukowski and T. Christensen, studying the biology of the North American orb weaver Mecrathena gracilis, which belongs to the group spiny orb weavers and has numerous spine-like projections on the abdomen, two features of their reproduction have been identified.

First, the male climbs into the net of the still immature female, shortly before her last molt. It molts fewer times than the female and becomes sexually mature earlier. This is beneficial: a female that has not yet molted or has just molted is less aggressive. Perhaps over time she “gets used” to the presence of a male. Analyzing the state of males sitting in females’ nets, American researchers found part of the legs missing and other damage in only a small proportion of males. At first, the males behave passively and sit at the edge of the web, apparently fearing an attack by the females. After mating, the male quickly runs away, often even jumping out of the female’s web. (Similar behavior of males is known in many web spiders, including orb-weaving spiders.)

Secondly, micrataenas are characterized by double mating: at first it is short, and the second time it is twice as long. In this case, the male tries to fertilize the female through both of her paired copulatory openings. Most likely, this is necessary to guarantee the appearance of her own, and not someone else’s, offspring - after all, the female is then able to mate with other males waiting in other corners of her network. Males try to remove competitors by cutting off their web threads, etc.; By the way, they themselves can also mate with several females.

However, it remains unclear whether the first male's sperm has an advantage in fertilizing the female, as has been noted in many other spider species. If it does, then the second mating becomes unnecessary. Maybe for the first time the male injects an insufficient amount of sperm “out of excitement”? It is also unclear how the male monitors the female’s age. A hypothesis has been put forward that from time to time the male visits the growing female, and climbs into her net “closer to the point” - before the last molt. But so far this hypothesis has not been proven.

Class Cheliceraceae
Cross spider (Araneue sp.)
The cross spider is part of the large family of orb-weaving spiders. These spiders weave an amazingly beautiful round web with which they catch their victims. The cross spider hunts mainly on flying insects, primarily dipterans and butterflies, helping to clear gardens and forests of pests.
DESCRIPTION
Females, significantly larger than males, can reach three centimeters in length. The color of the spider's body is dominated by brown tones; two zigzag dark lines are visible on the abdomen, converging at the back. The legs are covered with light and dark rings.
■ HABITAT
This genus is widespread throughout the world. These spiders prefer tall vegetation and hang their webs at a height of about a meter from the ground.

NOTES
In Japan, this spider is called "onigumo", which means "monster spider". He owes this nickname to his dark, hairy body and boundless gluttony. Its venom, fatal to the spider's usual victims, does not pose a serious danger to humans.

Orb-weaving spiders
Spiders are invertebrates and are part of a large group of arthropods. Their body structure and high adaptability have allowed them to survive on Earth for millions of years. The order of spiders includes more than 20 thousand species, distributed throughout to the globe. Of these, more than 2,500 species belong to the family of orb-weaving spiders. Many of these species are known collectively
called "garden spiders".

CLASSIFICATION

TYPE Arthropods
Subtype: Chelicerates
Class: Arachnids
Squad: Spiders

Suborder: Higher spiders
Family: Orb-weaving spiders

The family of orb-weaving spiders includes spiders that vary in size and color. The photograph shows a representative of the species Argiope bruennichi

Deceptive Appearances
Representatives of the family of orb-weaving spiders are characterized by a large abdomen and a relatively soft external chitinous skeleton. However, despite their vulnerable appearance, spiders are ruthless hunters, and their poisonous chelicerae are terrible weapons.
The spider's body is formed by two easily distinguishable sections. The anterior one is called the prosoma, or cephalothorax. This section bears six pairs of limbs: two anterior pairs in the mouth (chelicerae and pedipalps), and the remaining four pairs are walking legs. The back of the spider's body is called the opisthosoma, or abdomen. The high elasticity of the external skeleton allows the abdomen to vary greatly in size. After a hearty lunch or before laying eggs, it can increase to twice its normal state.
Somewhat more difficult to see with the naked eye are two morphological features that distinguish spiders from other arthropods: chelicerae and arachnoid warts. Chelicerae are located in front of the mouth and are two hooks with poisonous glands inside. Spider warts are located on the bottom of the abdomen in front of the anus. Of these, a silk thread stands out, from which spiders spin their amazingly complex and beautiful web.
1 - heart. In a spider, the heart is a tube with 3-4 pairs of ostia (slit-like openings), from the anterior end of which the aorta extends, dividing into two arteries. From them, the hemolymph flows directly into the body of the spider, and through the ostia it returns to the heart.
2 - Elongated digestive system crosses the entire body of the spider and is represented by the mouth, oral cavity and intestines. The anterior part of the intestine expands into a muscular pharynx, which serves as a pump to draw in semi-liquid food. The midgut forms protrusions that increase intestinal capacity.

The brain consists of two sections: the anterior, innervating the eye, and the posterior, innervating the chelicerae. Spiders have no middle section, since they do not have antennae or antennae.
3 - The brain consists of two sections: the anterior, innervating the eye, and the posterior, innervating the chelicerae. Spiders have no middle section, since they do not have antennae or antennae.
4 - Venom glands are located in the chelicerae and also protrude into the cephalothorax cavity. They produce poison with which spiders kill their victims.
5 - Excretory system. It is represented by Malpighian vessels, which look like two blindly closed branching tubes flowing into the intestine at the border of the midgut and hindgut.
6 - Spider warts. These are modified abdominal legs. At the ends of warts there are arachnoid tubes from which cobwebs are released
7 - Ovaries. Organs in which eggs develop. In a pregnant female, the ovaries can occupy a significant part of the abdomen
8 - Subpharyngeal ganglion
9 - Located under the esophagus and connected to the brain. Is a part nervous system: The nerve cord has merged into the cephalothoracic ganglion. Nerve endings come out of it and go to various parts bodies.

1 - Cephalothorax. This section is protected by a special kind of dorsal shield, harder than the rest of the spider’s body. It covers vital organs, including honey.
2 - Abdomen. This is the largest part of the spider's body, covered with an elastic exoskeleton that allows them to change in size. The spider often has a distinctive pattern on its back to aid in species identification.
3 - Walking legs. The spider has four pairs of walking legs. Each leg is formed by seven segments of varying lengths. The last of them is called a tarsus and ends in two small claws. Foot size varies greatly among different types depending on lifestyle.
4 - Pedipalps. They are shorter than the legs and located in the front of the cephalothorax next to the chelicerae. They are formed by six segments and have sensory functions. In males, the last segment serves as a copulatory organ.
5 - simple eyes. Spiders usually have eight simple ocelli. With their help, web spiders distinguish mainly between the strength and direction of light; wandering spiders have better developed vision. In general, the vision of spiders is poorly developed.
6 - Chelicerae. These are oral appendages responsible for feeding. They are equipped with a sharp sting connected to poisonous glands.

Netting
Arachnoid warts are modified abdominal appendages from which a web is secreted.

Warts can be formed by a different number of segments, but on the last of them there is always a a large number of web-secreting organs, the so-called fusulae, forming concentric circles. The shape, size and location of arachnoid warts vary among species.

HABITAT
In forests and gardens
The habitat of orb-weaving spiders is tied to the habitat of flying insects, which form the basis of their diet. Forests, shrubs and urban gardens are best suited for spiders: the abundance of flowers attracts insects here, providing spiders with the necessary amount of food.

The family of orb-weaving spiders is widespread on our planet and includes 2,500 species. Its representatives inhabit almost all corners of the land: from sea coasts to heights of six thousand meters above sea level. Without a doubt, it was the geographic distribution that determined the diversity of species in the family of orb-weaving spiders. Various natural conditions and their habitat forced them to adapt, changing their structure and habits. And yet, the diverse appearance of representatives of orb-weaving spiders does not prevent them from maintaining a number of general characteristics, allowing them to be classified as one family.
1 - (Nephila clavipes)
The length of the female of this spider reaches four centimeters, and the size of the male is smaller - only ten millimeters. The abdomen has a cylindrical shape. The color is orangeish with rare yellow spots. Dark and light stripes alternate on the legs. Despite its large size, it feeds on small prey. Distributed in Central and South America, where it lives in forests, swamps and shady gardens.
2- (Argiope bruennichi) Females of this spider reach 25 millimeters in length (with straightened legs - up to 40 millimeters), and the size of males is up to seven millimeters. The color of the spider immediately catches the eye: the abdomen is painted with transverse black stripes on a white and yellow background, for which it is also called the “wasp spider.” Widely distributed in Europe, South Asia, China, Japan.

3 - ordinary cross. Araneus diadematus)
The main habitats of the cross spider are forests, bushes, roadsides and gardens. Females reach 18 millimeters in length, larger than males, whose size does not exceed nine millimeters. On the back of these spiders you can see a characteristic pattern in the shape of a white cross. Widely distributed in Europe, North America and most of Asia, including Japan.

4 - Comet Spider. Gasteracantha sanguinolenta) This small spider has six spines on its abdomen and is colored yellow, red and black. Weaves webs at the tops of trees. Found in Central and Southern Africa.
5 - Asian golden spider. Nephila pilipes)
This spider can reach four centimeters in length. Weaves a golden web. Lives in the forests of Thailand, India and China. Often used for food.
6 - Precious Spider. (Austracantha minax) Females of this Australian species reach a length of 12 millimeters, males are somewhat smaller. These spiders live in colonies among vegetation, hanging their webs at a height of one meter above the ground. The spider's abdomen is covered with spines and painted in bright yellow and white colors on a black background.

LIFESTYLE
Hanging by a thread
The survival of the family of orb-weaving spiders directly depends on the number of flying insects.

This is the only prey that can be caught in a web located above the ground at a relative height. For this reason, orb-weaving spiders prefer to settle in green areas, where the bulk of their potential victims are concentrated.
No rush
The life of spiders may seem too quiet and calm. All they do is wait for the next victim to fall into their network. Zoologists call orb-weaving spiders sedentary because their entire life is spent on or near the web, at least after the spiders reach adulthood. The shape of their body, unlike spiders of other families, such as jumping spiders and wolf spiders, does not allow them to move quickly, and on the ground they are rather helpless. And yet, in a number of cases, orb-weaving spiders leave their guard post and do other things. This happens during the mating season and during the construction of amazing silk cocoons in which the spider wraps its eggs. Many scientists suggest that spiders began to produce silk threads specifically to protect the masonry.

Mating games
The moment of reproduction, during which the male and female must come into contact, is one of the most dangerous and difficult in the life of spiders, especially males. Males are usually much smaller than females and can easily become their prey. To avoid this, male orb-weaving spiders approach the female's web with extreme caution. Having reached her, they pull the threads in a special way to make it clear to the female that we are not talking about a victim, but about a possible partner. When the female allows the male to climb onto the web, he carefully approaches her and stands opposite her as shown in the photo above.

From this position, he inserts his pedipalps into the genital opening in the abdomen of the female standing opposite him and deposits a spermatophore containing sperm there. After a short copulation, the male runs away from the web to avoid unnecessary complications.

Nutrition
The main prey of orb-weaving spiders is represented by flying insects that fall into the web while flying or jumping.

Having discovered the victim, the spider entangles it in a web, completely immobilizing it, after which it pierces it with its powerful chelicerae and injects poison. After a short period of time, when the poison dissolves internal organs victims, turning them into pulp, the spider returns to the prey and sucks out the nutritional mass. In the image on the right, a mantis was caught in the web of a wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi).

Reproduction
Spiders are oviparous animals. This means that their young develop outside the mother's body. Females lay eggs in cocoons, or ootheca, made immediately before laying. In some species of orb-weaving spiders, the oothecae take on surprising shapes and sizes. The thread from which the cocoon is made differs from the thread used to weave nets. As the cocoon is erected, the female treats the threads with her saliva, strengthening them and giving them a papery structure. This helps protect the eggs, which spend several weeks, or even months, in a cocoon in a wide range of climates.

Ravenous Hunters
All spiders are predators and, accordingly, excellent hunters, destroying insect pests in large quantities. They have extremely varied methods of obtaining food: from lying in wait for prey by wandering spiders to constructing a variety of intricate trapping devices by sedentary spiders. At the same time, orb-weaving spiders stand out from their counterparts in that they weave the most beautiful and largest webs.

The main hunting skill of orb-weaving spiders is the ability to weave a web. It should be taken into account that during the day a lot of insects get into the web. If the “harvest” is too large, spiders have to constantly repair the web.

Although most orb-weaving spiders try to make it invisible, there are others, such as the wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi), that place a cross in the center of their web, or a stabiliment, which is formed by four zigzag web ribbons. At first glance, this makes no sense, since the zigzag unmasks the web. But scientists believe that this is done to make the web more visible to birds. Having seen a web in flight, the bird will try to fly around it. However, spiders are not only hunters, but also victims. They are especially loved by birds, who feed spiders to their chicks. Warblers are considered one of the main hunters of spiders and catch them both on webs and in their hiding places.

Artist's handwriting
Each group of spiders has its own characteristic web shape. The most interesting is the large concentric web of orb-weaving spiders, designed to catch flying insects. There are spiders that do not make any webs at all, like jumping spiders. Rough webs in wall corners and on tree trunks are characteristic of tangled weaver spiders and six-eyed spiders. Web spiders, which include the black widow, weave irregularly shaped webs.

The main enemies of spiders
Birds: Many birds, such as warblers and tits, like to feed spiders to their chicks.
Wasps: Some wasps catch spiders right in their webs. They paralyze the spider with a sting, drag it into their burrow and lay an egg on the spider's body. Upon hatching, the larva feeds on the spider as “live canned food.”
Bats: In the dark, bats accurately find spiders and snatch them with precise movements
from the web.

Main victims
Spiders: In spiders, females are larger than males, and can sometimes feed on their partners. In addition, there is a special family of spiders, Mimetidae, that feed exclusively on spiders of other species.
Flies: They are the main prey of spiders and make up a significant part of their diet.
Grasshoppers: The abundance of grasshoppers and the way they move make them a prime prey item for orb-weaving spiders.
Butterflies: The uneven flight of a butterfly seeking flower nectar often ends in the webs of a spider.
Dragonflies: The web of some spiders, such as the wasp spider, can hold even such a large insect as a dragonfly.

The hunting “skills” of carnivorous plants and animals improved along with the development of life on our planet. Predators have always adapted to the behavior of their victims. The most cunning of them were able to create traps that allowed them to catch prey without chasing it, and without even engaging in direct confrontation, fraught with injury and damage. Using traps, some species hunt prey that they cannot cope with in an open fight. A significant portion of these sophisticated hunters are represented by spiders, whose ability to weave silk webs has become proverbial. Spider web is one of the most durable natural materials. But not only spiders can build traps. There are other creatures that use deception and cunning to obtain food for themselves.

Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
The flycatcher is one of the carnivorous plants. It grows on peat bogs, poor in nutrients, and therefore needs protein food. On the upper surface of the two rounded leaves of the leaf, three sensitive hairs stick out upward, secreting a very sticky liquid. When an insect hits, the flytrap flaps instantly slam shut. The digested victim is absorbed by the plant cells.

Antlion (Palpares sp.)
Adult antlions are very similar to dragonflies (left) and catch their prey in flight. The larvae (above right) build amazing traps on the ground.

During its development, the small larva digs a funnel in the sand (bottom right) and hides at its bottom. When an ant or other ground insect approaches the edge of the trap, its walls collapse and the animal cannot climb up. The larva grabs it with its powerful jaws, drags it into the sand and eats it.

Wasp spider Argiope bruennichi) The wasp spider and similar spiders spin the most beautiful webs, reaching two meters in diameter. If such a trap is stretched between two bushes, it takes up almost all the free space and is very difficult to avoid.

Nemesia (Nemesia sp.)
Nemesia live on the ground and dig underground galleries lined with cobwebs. They spend almost their entire lives in them. The entrance to the burrow is closed by a lid that the spider makes from cobwebs. The lid is almost invisible against the background of the ground. The spider waits at the entrance to the gallery, holding onto the thinnest threads of web scattered near the entrance with his feet. As soon as a small invertebrate steps on them, the spider jumps out from its hiding place, grabs the victim and drags it into the hole.

From myths to cinema
The ability of spiders to weave webs has fascinated people since ancient times. It is not for nothing that in ancient and modern art, characters with spider abilities act as skilled craftsmen or superheroes.
The myth of Arachne became a favorite subject of classical art. The first depiction of this scene was found on an ancient Greek incense vessel dating back to the 7th century BC. In painting it is depicted in the paintings of Rubens and Velazquez, and in literature it is found in Homer and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Above is an illustration from Antoine Dufour’s book “Life famous women"(XVI century).

One of the myths Ancient Greece tells the story of a girl named Arachne, who once lived in Lydia and was fluent in weaving. Arachne was so skillful and proud that she was not afraid to challenge Athena herself, the goddess of arts and inventor of yarn and fabric, to a competition. Pallas Athena descended from Olympus to earth and accepted the challenge of a proud girl who dreamed of proving that she could weave better than the goddess. Each participant in the competition created her own masterpiece. But Athena really did not like the plot depicting the gods, created by Arachne on an impeccably woven canvas. The goddess became angry, tore the elegant work and hit the girl. Arachne could not bear the shame, made a rope for herself and hanged herself. Taking pity, Athena saved Arachne's life, but turned her into a spider. In Greek, “Arachne” means “spider,” so when we pronounce the modern name of arachnids - Arachnida, we involuntarily mention the name of the Lydian girl.

Comic book hero who conquered the TV screen
The idea of giving a person the ability to spin webs, just as spiders do, formed the basis of one of the most famous comics, Spider-Man.

In the story, a spider bite gave Peter Parker the opportunity to become a superhero, capable of throwing webs over long distances in order to move from building to building and catch villains threatening defenseless citizens.
The comic book, which was published in the USA in the middle of the 20th century, served as the plot of several equally successful film adaptations. Unlike real spiders, Spider-Man did not have a spinneret. He released his web from his wrists.

Based on materials from issue No. 4 Insects and their friends