It seems the first time’s the charm for the female Australian jumping spider. A recent study by Vivian Mendez and her colleagues at Macquarie University, Australia, found that most female Servaea incana spiders only mate once in their lifetime, after which they become unwilling or even aggressive toward males who try to mate with them. The researchers examined the […] More
Spiders are often one of the first species to colonize new habitats, and many species are found in multiple locations — including multiple continents. In other words, spiders get around. Scientists as far back as Charles Darwin have studied an intriguing mode of spider transportation: ballooning, or floating through the air on a thin strand […] More
And you thought raising human newborns was tough! Across Europe, Africa and Asia, Stegodyphus spiders reproduce in large nests that are home to a number of spider families. Among them, one species native to South Africa, Stegodyphus dumicola, feed their young in a pretty gruesome way. As females take longer to mature than males, only about 40 percent of the females reproduce. […] More
Laying only a single egg, the spider wasp has a brutal method to ensure its young have a high chance of survival. With a striking red thorax, the spider wasp gains its name from paralyzing arachnids with its large stinger. The spider is then dragged into the wasp’s nest, where it will lay one egg […] More
Arachnophobics, beware: Spiders can hear you from across the room. While it’s already well known that spiders can “hear” sounds through their leg hairs in response to vibrations, scientists had previously thought that they could only do so within several inches of those vibrations. It has now been determined, however, that spiders can detect vibrations […] More
