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spider
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lynx spider
Witness an orb-weaving spider using silk wrappings to immobilize grasshopper prey
spider
Do we really swallow spiders in our sleep?
red widow spider brown recluse spider sheet-web weaver spider
Know how some spiders walk on the surface of the water
spider: trichobothrium Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus)
For Students
spider summary
Quizzes
Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters
Animal Group Names
Lion (panthera leo)
Deadliest Animals Quiz
Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)
Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz
Green tree python snake (Chondropython viridis) in a rainforest.
Creepy Crawlers Quiz
vulture. An adult bearded vulture at a raptor recovery center. The Gypaetus barbatus also known as the Lammergeier or Lammergeyer, is a bird of prey and considered an Old World vulture.
Animal Factoids
Read Next
Wasp spider. Argiope bruennichi. Orb-weaver spider. Spiders. Arachnid. Cobweb. Spider web. Spider's web. Spider silk. Black and yellow striped wasp spider spinning a web.
Do We Really Swallow Spiders in Our Sleep?
Black widow spider
9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders
Discover
Coriander leaves, fresh green cilantro on wooden background, herbs
Why Does Cilantro Taste Like Soap to Some People?
Panama Canal infographic
Timeline and Map of the Panama Canal
King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)
9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes
Hemp (Cannabis sativa).
9 Mind-Altering Plants
Fish. Lionfish. Lion-fish. Turkey fish. Fire-fish. Red lionfish. Pterois volitans. Venomous fin spines. Coral reefs. Underwater. Ocean. Red lionfish swims by seaweed.
10 of the World’s Most Dangerous Fish
Colorful winter sunset
What's the Difference Between a Solstice and an Equinox?
Scottish fold cat. A genetic mutation caused (in the original cat-1961) the ears to bend forward and down.
Shorthair Cat Breeds
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Also known as: Araneae, Araneida
Written by
Joseph Culin
Professor of Entomology, Clemson University, South Carolina.
Joseph Culin,
Herbert W. Levi
Emeritus Professor of Biology, Harvard University; Curator of Arachnology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1966–91. Coauthor of A Guide to Spiders and Their Kin; cotranslator and coeditor of Invertebrate...
Herbert W. Levi•All
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Last Updated: • Article History

The sex organs (gonads) of male and female spiders are in the abdomen. The eggs are fertilized, as they pass through the oviduct to the outside, with sperm stored in the seminal receptacles after mating. The fertilized egg (zygote) develops in the manner typical of arthropod eggs rich in yolk (see arthropod: Reproductive system and life cycle).

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