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spitting spider

scytodes thoracica

Description:

from the top of front leg to the top of the back leg 10-14 mm, very nice pattern (tiger leopard tattoo- mix would i say), yellow/skincolor with black motives, 5 days still no web to see.she's sometime wherelse in the room, expected wolfspider species. not so shy- when i came to near,slowly moving but not jumping away at spotting as some other spiders do !!

Habitat:

In Southern Europe, it can be found under stones outside houses. In Northern Europe it can only be found in houses --Scytodes thoracica is a spitting spider because it spits a poisonous sticky silken substance over its prey. Its size ranges between 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in). The carapace is unusual in sloping upwards towards its rear end, whereas the abdomen slopes downwards. --It has six eyes instead of the eight spiders usually have. It is found in the Holarctic, Australia, and on some oceanic islands in the Pacific. --This particular spitting spider features the presence of silk glands in its head-breast part. Besides the silk glands in its abdomen, the spider also has silk glands connected with its poison glands. In this way the spiders has the ability to make poisonous silk. Other Arachnidae (spider-like creatures) may also have silk glands in their head-breast part like the pseudo-scorpions. --In contrast to the Pseudoscorpions that use the silk from the head-breast glands to make nests, the 'spitting spider' uses it to catch prey in a very particular way. It is a very slow hunter as its long and tender legs may suggest. During night, when all insects are at rest, Scytodes starts its hunt. The spider sneaks very carefully towards its prey and, from about 10 mm (0.39 in), stops and carefully measures the distance to its prey with one front leg without disturbing it. Then it squeezes the back of its body together and spits two poisonous silk threads, in 1/600 sec, in a zigzag manner over the victim. The prey is immediately immobilized. When the prey is larger the spider spits several times. It is assumed the spider uses special long hearing hairs located at its legs to locate its prey. --The mother does not make a nest, but carries her eggs under her belly in a net of silk. --Scytodes thoracica is nocturnal. It prefers warm temperatures and is not rare inside houses.

Notes:

as long as she stays in her area i will let her, her area is the ventilaton pipes, and the walls, in the bathroom through the pipes come also other little bug which she eliminate for me

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2 Comments

AlexKonig
AlexKonig 12 years ago

thanks ChunXingWong, without your comment i would never found it myself. did not knew here where also "spitting spiders". thanks

ChunXingWong
ChunXingWong 12 years ago

Oh, this is a spitting spider.
They do not build web for trapping their prey, instead it will spit out sticky silks to trap it's prey.

AlexKonig
Spotted by
AlexKonig

Kerkrade, Limburg, Netherlands

Spotted on Oct 27, 2011
Submitted on Oct 29, 2011

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