Net-Casting Spiders may drop white fecal splashes immediately underneath them as targets. When they see a wandering insect pass over the white spots, they swoop downwards with the net and entangle their prey.
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The male Funnel Web Spider is five times deadlier than the female. The spider grips its victim and stabs repeatedly with hardened fangs that can pierce a human fingernail!
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Monster Bug War's bug catchers had been searching high and low for a Green Jumping Spider when, just by chance, during filming a Green Jumping Spider lowered itself from the studio rafters and began spinning a web right over one of the computers. Gotcha!
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Did you know that the European Water Spider spins its own underwater scuba tank - called an air bell? The air bell works like a lung, trapping oxygen so the insect can live underwater. Some water spiders also use their air bells to protect their young.
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The Dolomedes Water Spider can dive to the bottom of a pond, and remain there for up to an hour. While underwater, the arachnid bottom feeders prey on tiny fish, tadpoles and, possibly, toads!
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Aquatic spiders run across the surface film of a water body. The surface tension prevents them from falling into the water. But when threatened or hunting for food, they're able to dive under the water, completely submerging themselves.
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Fishing Spiders have fine hairs on their abdomens that they use to trap air bubbles. The air bubble provides them with an oxygen supply while they're underwater.
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Oxygen diffuses from the water into the Fishing Spiders' air bubble, while carbon dioxide dissipates into the water. This arrangement allows the spider to remain submerged for more than 30 minutes at a time.
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Some Jumping Spiders mimic Green Ant workers by both taking on their appearance and, more deviously, by chemically mimicking their odor. This way Jumping Spiders enter the Green Ant's nests and devour both adult workers and larvae.
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Propelled by their back legs, Jumping Spiders can leap more than 20 times their body length. But when pouncing on prey, they make shorter, more accurate leaps.
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Jumping Spiders also see with three different sets of eyes. Wide-angle side eyes detect distant movement; two large eyes on the head extend to provide telephoto vision for tracking prey, and four additional side eyes observe movement all around them.
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There is no evidence that common household Cellar Spider bites are dangerous to humans. Their fangs are very small, with the jaw bases fused together, making it difficult to bite through human skin.
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A Green Jumping Spider can comfortably catch prey up to five times its own size, because it has large and powerful jaws.
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Trapdoor Spiders have a long life span, between 5 to 20 years, and take several years to reach maturity. Females stay in or near their burrows, whereas males leave their burrows once mature, and go in search of a mate.
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Net-casting Spiders have a unique way of catching their prey. They make a small web in the form of a net held by the front legs that can be stretched out wide to envelop an unwary insect passing by.
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Net-casting Spider silk stretches like a rubber band up to six times its length, but it's not sticky. Instead it works much like Velcro, where the net tangles with projections on the prey's body.
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