Some biologists adore spiders. It’s why they visit the same arachnid for 40 years and why the world recently saw the first trained spider. This spider love has yielded quite a bit of knowledge, but there’s still so much more to learn.

These creatures have more mysteries than they have legs. Inexplicable fossilization, producing milk more nutritious than a cow’s, and spinning graphene-laced silk are just some of the things spiders do that confound scientists. Then there was the spider that received death threats, causing the cops to show up.

10 They Eat More Than Humans

The human race consumes an average of 400 million metric tons of fish and meat every year.^[1] Sometimes, whales take the lead with an annual intake of up to 500 million metric tons. In 2017, scientists calculated the total weight of spider prey, and it was astonishing. Beating both humans and whales, the tiny predators eat as much as 800 million metric tons per year.

To arrive at that number, the team first had to know the biomass of the global spider population. They determined that the planet has 25 million metric tons of spiders. After calculating how much food was required per body unit, the total consumption was something between 400 and 800 million metric tons.

Considering that the arachnid menu is 95-percent insects, the study proved that spiders are very useful. They keep insect populations in check, including species that count as pests. The smorgasbord of insects fosters a large population of spiders which, in turn, provide plenty of food for arachnid-eating animals.

9 Spider Bondage

Unlike other spiders, the nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira) does not use its silk to catch prey.^[2] Suggestive of their name, the females use their spinning ability to make nests. The males use it for something else entirely—to tie females up during mating. No other spider species use webbing as a restraint. This seemingly kinky behavior was proven in the laboratory as a smart survival move.

In 2016, researchers divided male nursery web spiders into two groups. One half retained their spinning ability, while the other had theirs blocked. Enter the females. After mating, all the males who could not spin were dead. Those who managed to tie up their mates got out alive. Apparently, the females start out with fertilization on the brain. Once the female is fertilized, her mate now looks more like baby food for her developing eggs. Unsurprisingly, the males evolved longer legs and an instinct for bedroom bondage.

8 The Glittering Fossils

As a rule, spiders do not make good fossils.^[3] Their soft bodies decay and disappear quickly after death. On rare occasions, amber holds well-preserved specimens. In 2019, however, paleontologists released news of a remarkable find. While working in South Korea, they came across 11 spiders fossilized in shale. The number of arachnids was reason enough to celebrate, but something else made this batch special. Despite being 110 to 113 million years old, the eyes of two specimens still glittered.

Inside the eyes of nighttime animals, spiders included, are structures called tapetums. They act like mirrors, reflecting light from the back of the eye through the retina. This kicks night vision up a notch. The Korean eyeballs marked the first time tapetums were found in the fossil record. Their shape, resembling tiny canoes, might help scientists to place the valuable fossils on the spider family tree. But another mystery remains. Nobody knows how the spiders, let alone their tapentums, became preserved in the shale.

7 Spider Death Threats

On New Year’s Day in 2019, a passerby heard something disturbing.^[4] Walking by a house in Perth, Australia, the person heard a toddler screaming. Then a man’s voice yelled repeatedly, “Why don’t you die?” Concerned over the child’s safety, the witness placed an emergency call to the police. The cops arrived, expecting to find domestic violence. Instead, they found a very scared man.

Apparently, the homeowner, who has an intense fear of arachnids, had encountered a spider. The “Why don’t you die?” death threats were directed at the spider, which the police reported was the only one at the scene that suffered any injuries. Although the species wasn’t revealed, the man wasn’t behaving entirely outside of reason. Some of the most venomous spiders in the world crawl around in Australia. This is not the most encouraging fact for somebody suffering from arachnophobia.

6 Epic Sea Voyage

The Australian trapdoor spider (Moggridgea rainbowi ) only lives on Kangaroo Island.^[5] When a study found that it belonged to the same family as South African trapdoor spiders, it was thought that their lines separated when Africa broke off from the supercontinent Gondwana 95 million years ago. However, tests showed that the two cousins diverged around two to 16 million years ago. This also ruled out the possibility that humans brought them to Australia. The only remaining theory suggested that the trapdoors floated to Australia.

At first, it seemed unlikely. After all, a massive stretch of ocean sits between Kangaroo Island and South Africa. A strong clue supported the epic journey, however. Related trapdoors were found on the Comoros islands, a few hundred miles away from South Africa. These arachnids probably made a shorter journey in the same way—on a raft. Had a colony been washed out to sea on a piece of floating land, their lifestyle could not have been more perfect. Trapdoor spiders do not need a lot of habitat. They make a burrow near their mother’s nest, seal it with a protective “door,” and live there their whole lives.

5 The Electric Highway

Sometimes, spiders make silk parachutes and fly away.^[6] Although this ballooning had been well-studied, it was not until 2018 that it became clear that electric fields both prompt the behavior and provide the lift even without wind. Long suspected to play a part was the atmospheric potential gradient (APG). This electric circuit exists between Earth and the ionosphere.

To confirm its effects, experiments in the laboratory exposed spiders to electric fields. When the artificial field was switched on, the spiders went ballooning. Remarkably, electrostatic forces were sufficient to push the tiny travelers on their way. This is the same stuff that makes hairs stand up after a balloon rubs somebody’s head. When the field was switched off, the spiders landed.

It is believed that the spiders sense electricity in the air with hairs called trichobothria. This could explain why they fly more during thunderstorms, which act as a booster for the APG. Indeed, the arachnids have been recorded drifting 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) high and traveling for hundreds more.

4 First Trained Spider

She may not be an obedience champion, but Kim the spider is the first arachnid to leap when scientists demand it.^[7] Teaching her where and when to leap was hard, and the rest of her four-member class failed to grasp what the humans wanted. Graduating in 2018, Kim’s hopping between platforms taught researchers more about what happened when a group called jumping spiders, well, jumped. In particular, the team was curious about how leaps differed depending on the distance, direction, and reason for the jump.

Kim was a regal jumping spider, known for long-distance jumps used to catch dinner, travel, or to escape danger. She was filmed performing 15 jumping tasks and then studied in slow motion. The footage also enhanced a 3-D version of Kim, created to better understand the physical processes involved. The most surprising find was that takeoff burdened the spider’s legs with a force of up to five times her own body weight. Kim also anticipated her destination and adjusted her leg positions accordingly, leaping high for long distances and low for nearby platforms.

3 Number 16

It is hard to imagine, but in 2016, one spider turned 43 years old.^[8] Known as Number 16, she was a trapdoor spider that lived in the wild. (The picture above shows an example of her species.) In 1974, researchers found her as a baby in Australia’s North Bungulla Reserve. For decades, they visited her nest as part of a long-term research project. Number 16 lived through Watergate, the first IBM personal computer, and the advent of the World Wide Web. She also died as the world’s oldest known spider.

Her corpse was never found, but when scientists arrived at her underground nest in 2016, they did not need to find it. The gruesome signs were there. Her burrow’s protective lid had been pierced by a wasp. This type of wasp was known to be parasitic, depositing eggs inside a spider, which is then eaten alive by the insect’s larvae. Despite her violent end, Number 16’s life was not for nothing. Her decades-long contribution to the behavioral study of trapdoor spiders was significant.

2 Mysterious Spider Milk

Spider silk is old news, but what about spider milk? Scientists observed something odd in 2018.^[9] They noticed three odd behaviors while observing a jumping spider called Toxeus magnus. The species was not known to form colonies, but the researchers found nests stuffed with grown juveniles. Also, newly hatched babies never left the nest, and the mother never brought them food. By all logic, they should have starved. After mysteriously surviving for 20 days, the kids began foraging outside of the nest.

The third behavior was most unusual. Every now and again, one juvenile would attach itself to the mother. The female did not seem to mind and was downright tender with them. A closer look revealed that the mother provided her offspring with milk and continued to suckle them long after they began finding food for themselves. The milk’s content was also surprising. Apart from containing fat and sugar, it was also four times richer in protein than cow’s milk. Given as an excretion, the exact nature of the fluid remains unknown, since it is not milk in the “mammal” sense.

1 Graphene Silk

When it comes to tensile strength, spider silk is as strong as alloy steel.^[10] This makes it stronger than most artificial materials. Recently, scientists from Italy made it even tougher. They found a way to get spiders to spin graphene-containing silk. The process was so simple that a child could do it. A group of spiders from the Pholcidae family were spritzed with water containing graphene flakes or carbon nanotubes. The next time the critters started to weave, their silk was analyzed. Incredibly, it passed the tests as the toughest fibers ever recorded.

This “carbon-fiber” was a mixture of silk and graphene or nanotubes. Beyond confirming the inner structures, scientists remain stumped about how the whole thing works. It was unlikely that the silk was somehow coated with the substances. As a coating, neither could have enhanced the silk’s strength so significantly. The spiders probably ingested the laced water and somehow incorporated it into their silk. That way, the graphene/nanotubes ended up near the middle of the fibers, an arrangement that made the fibers super strong.

Before we begin, let’s just quickly clear up one point of confusion: spiders are (usually) venomous, not poisonous. For something to be poisonous, it must be harmful through being eaten. To be venomous, a thing must be harmful by injecting venom—via fangs in the bulk of cases with deadly spiders. Now, on with the list!

SEE ALSO: 10 Fascinating Mysteries Involving Spiders

Across the globe, most people can agree that spiders are critters they want nothing to do with. A fear of spiders, otherwise known as arachnophobia, is one of the most widespread fears people have, and there’s a good reason for it.

Most of our fears don’t stem from irrational places; they come from evolving on a dangerous planet. Even though most spiders are harmless to humans, there are several species capable of killing you with a bite or two, and it’s because of these ten that arachnophobia is anything but irrational.

10 Wolf Spider—Hogna carolinensis

From the family Lycosidae, Wolf Spiders are named for their wolf-like habit of chasing and pouncing upon their prey. There are about 125 species in America and another 50 in Europe, and they typically measure about 2.5 cm (1 inch), with their legs adding about 2.5 cm to their (terrifying) size. They can be black, gray, or brown, and they have one of the most unique features: an eye arrangement with four small eyes in the bottom row, followed by two large eyes in the middle row and two medium eyes in the top row.^[1] These venomous spiders are sometimes confused with a brown recluse (both brown in color) or a tarantula (both are hairy). These spiders hunt their prey rather than hang out in their webs, waiting for a hapless insect to meander into the sticky trap. They prefer to establish dens in the ground from which they hunt, dragging their prey back inside. They use webbing to fortify the den, so it can look like a webbed funnel.^[2]

Wolf spiders inject venom into their prey to subdue it. And they will bite humans as well, although they don’t prefer to. If a wolf spider does bite a human, the worst thing that will happen is it will leave a red, itchy welt on the skin. This is the body’s natural reaction to the venom injected. Some people, who are sensitive to spider bites, may experience nausea, a rapid pulse, dizziness, or necrosis around the bite wound.^[3] If bitten, you should seek immediate medical attention. Although extremely rare, it is possible to die from a bite, depending on how the person’s body reacts.

9 Yellow Sac Spider—Cheiracanthium inclusum

Yellow Sac Spiders are widely distributed spiders ranging in size from only 3 to 15 mm (0.1 to 0.67 inch). You’ve probably seen them numerous times over the years and not given them much thought due to their size, but size rarely matters when it comes to spider bites. A Yellow Sac Spider’s venom contains a cytotoxin, which is a nasty substance that impairs call functions, often leading to cellular death. You will immediately know if one bites, as their bites are incredibly painful.^[4]

The good news about a Yellow Sac Spider bite is that it’s not going to kill you.^[5] You may wish you were dead when the pain hits, but there have never been any reported deaths. These spiders will aggressively defend their territory, and the last thing you want to do is threaten one of their egg sacs. Their venom does cause limited necrosis of the skin in the area where a bit occurs, which often results in a misdiagnosis of a Brown Recluse bite. Some species of a Cheiracanthium’s bite is more severe than others, but the most common are C. inclusum and C. mildei.

8 Brown Recluse Spider—Loxosceles reclusa

The Brown Recluse Spider is one of the most feared spiders in the civilized world due to the nature of its venom. While bites from a Brown Recluse will likely not result in the death of a person, it will cause the death of tissue, as its venom is highly necrotic. Much like a rattlesnake bite, the venom of a Brown Recluse will course through your veins at the site of the bite, resulting in the death of the tissue at the bite location.^[6] One of the problems with a bite is that it may not be initially felt, nor will it always be immediately painful. The resulting symptoms can be misidentified as a result.

The severity of the necrosis varies, and not all bites result in tissue death. Only 37% of bites will cause skin tissue to die. A small percentage of people may experience hemolysis—the bursting of red blood vessels.^[7] The fear of necrosis is what makes these spiders particularly scary to humans, and they are all over the central and southern United States, though they are rarely aggressive. Untreated bites can result in large portions of skin becoming gangrenous.

7 Redback Spider—Latrodectus hasseltii

The Redback Spider, sometimes called the Australian Black Widow, is often mistaken for a Black Widow thanks to the similar coloring and red mark found on the backs of females. They are highly venomous with a cocktail of different types of neurotoxins that deliver a staggeringly high amount of pain in humans.^[8] Fortunately, they don’t often strike with full venomization, preferring to hold back some of their precious venom for prey animals. If a Redback Spider were to deliver its full load in a bite, it would likely result in death.

That being said, there have been no known deaths attributed to these spiders since the invention of its antivenom in 1956. Before that time, a bite could result in death, which would likely be the same today were it not possible to get the antivenom in time. The dangerous symptoms from a bite include nausea, excessive sweating near the bite, muscle weakness, and vomiting. These spiders aren’t timid, and they will strike a person if they feel threatened, which is what happened to one unfortunate Australian man who encountered one while sitting on a toilet.^[9]

6 Brown Widow Spider—Latrodectus geometricus

The Brown Widow Spider is an incredibly dangerous cousin to the more familiar Black Widow. These lovely little beasts carry a particularly dangerous neurotoxin in their venom, which can result in a condition named after the spider’s bite called Latrodectism.^[10] The Brown Widow Spider’s venom is more toxic than its famous cousin, but thanks to its stingy nature, it doesn’t completely envenomize humans with a bite.^[11] These spiders are particularly shy and will only bite a person who disturbs them, or if they feel threatened.

That being said, a bite from a Brown Widow spider is going to hurt. A lot. There have been no recorded deaths from a Brown Widow bite, but the pain from a single bite has been described as being hit with something “like a sledgehammer.”^[12] The venom will cause immediate pain and muscle contractions, and if left untreated in a particularly sensitive location, the bite can result in spinal or cerebral paralysis. Their distribution has become cosmopolitan, and they are found throughout the developed world.

5 Six-Eyed Sand Spider—Sicarius hahni

The Six-Eyed Sand Spider is a relative of the Recluse Spiders, though it is only found in the deserts of southern Africa. Some consider this the most venomous spider in the world. The spiders are excellent at camouflage thanks to their being covered by tiny hairs called setae.^[13] The hairs pick up sand particles to create a sort of ghillie suit it wears as it buries itself under the sand. It sits there, patiently waiting for prey to come along so it can ambush and kill it quickly. These spiders rarely attack humans, but if they do, the bite could be dangerous.

Most bites do not result in envenomation since they prefer to store that for food they can actually eat. That’s a good thing, seeing as their venom contains a cryotoxin capable of destroying tissue and even organs. A bite with full envenomation would likely lead to hemorrhaging followed by liver and kidney failure. Death would come soon after, and there is no antivenom.^[14] Fortunately, there are no recorded cases of these shy critters envenoming a bite in humans, but from what we understand of their venom, that’s a good thing.

4 Black Widow Spider—Latrodectus mactans

Black Widow Spiders are some of the most notorious arachnids on the planet, and their level of danger can be seen in how much they have invaded our popular culture. The term “Black Widow” has been used to describe a woman who kills her husband(s), while Marvel Comics opted to name a deadly assassin after the little buggers. They are found throughout North America, Central America, Africa, and the West Indies, so there’s a good chance one is crawling up your back right now.

National Geographic^[15] lists them as the most venomous spider in North America with a venom that is 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake. A bite from a Black Widow will result in a small pricking of the skin, but don’t let the size of the mark fool you; there’s a dangerous amount of venom coursing through your veins, which can cause severe muscle cramping, nausea, and paralysis of the diaphragm, which can result in difficulty breathing.^[16] A bite can theoretically kill infants and the elderly, but no recorded cases of this happening are known.

3 Chilean Recluse Spider—Loxosceles laeta

Brown Recluse spiders are often feared for their necrotizing venom, but they pale in comparison to their Chilean cousins. The Chilean Recluse Spider is considered the most dangerous of all the Recluse Spiders, and their bite can cause some serious damage or even death. Fortunately, like most Recluse spiders, they don’t often interact with humans and only bite if they feel threatened. Their venom contains a dermonecrotic agent,^[17] which kills off skin tissue in the area of the bite. When a bite is serious enough, it can cause deadlier issues.

In about 4% of cases, the venom caused a series of failures resulting in death. This can happen if the bite consists of a tremendous amount of venom or if it hits an area near the heart or kidneys. Renal failure is the most common severe reaction to a bite with full envenomation, but these are incredibly rare. Their venom is 15 times more toxic than some species of cobra, and as much as 10 times more potent than sulfuric acid.^[18]

2 Sydney Funnel Web Spider—Atrax robustus

While Australia may be known for its larger, more toothy animals, there is one spider that stands as the most dangerous of them all in the land down under. The Sydney Funnel Web Spider is listed by Guinness World Records as being the “most venomous”^[19] spider in terms of toxicity to humans. While a lethal dose of venom is currently unknown, the spider’s lethality to the crab-eating macaque has been noted as 0.2 milligrams per kilogram. An average venom yield from a male Sydney Funnel Web Spider is 176 milligrams.^[20]

The venom of the Sydney Funnel Web Spider is particularly harmful to primates, which includes humans. The venom contains a compound called δ-atracotoxin, which inhibits a primate’s nervous system, and when they bite, they don’t hold anything back. Snakes typically reserve their venom and don’t deliver it all with a strike, but these spiders are far less conservative. They issue a full envenomation with a bite, and there have been numerous deaths^[21] attributed to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider prior to the creation of an antivenom in 1991.^[22][23]

1 Brazilian Wandering Spider—Phoneutria fera

While many of the spiders on this list are dangerous, the one spider most feared around the world is the Brazilian Wandering Spider.^[24] They are different from most spiders in that they hunt their prey instead of setting up a trap using webbing, and its prey sometimes includes humans. Granted, it doesn’t bite humans to eat them, but it probably could if it wanted to. They like to hide inside bunches of bananas where they await a passing prey animal … or human who attempts to harvest some bananas.

If a bite occurs, death will follow in less than an hour if left untreated. Fortunately, they don’t often envenomize their bites with people, preferring to save it for their actual prey. There are some unusual side effects of Brazilian Wandering Spider bites aside from tachycardia, nausea, blurred vision, hypothermia, and death; males may experience a painful erection, which will last for hours. If the embarrassment doesn’t kill them, not treating the bite certainly will, so if you ever find one of these spiders lurking in some bananas,^[25] avoid it at all costs.

About The Author: Jonathan is a graphic artist, illustrator, and writer. He is a Retired Soldier and enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects.

Spiders get a bad rap in the animal kingdom, often described as “creepy,” “chilling,” and even “frightening.” Six percent of us are so obsessively afraid of our eight-legged friends, our fear has been dubbed a phobia. The rest of us tolerate them. Their image is not enhanced by their hairy legs, multiple eyes and venom-dripping fangs. This is why they’re a staple of campy horror films and Halloween decor.

But there are spiders that are surprisingly pleasing to the eye. While few of us will likely purchase stuffed likenesses of these spiders to cuddle, it’s hard to argue their beauty.

Top 10 Deadliest Spiders

10 Sparklemuffin

Like most Peacock spiders, Maratus jactatus does an elaborate courtship dance punctuated by leg kicks. Imagine a Rockette who’s forgotten to shave their legs. We’ll see another Peacock spider later. In 2014, Madeline Girard, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkley, discovered this new species^[1] in southeast Queensland, Australia. Girard lovingly gave her new find the nickname “Sparklemuffin.”

Mr. Sparklemuffin has a blue and red iridescent belly flap that it raises like a colorful fan to catch the eye of a Ms. Sparklemuffin. When he’s not kicking his leg up, he’s using it and his seven other appendages to rhythmically tap out a message to his perspective mate. Envision a fan and tap dance with can-can kicks. Fortunately for him, Ms. Sparklemuffin has eight eyes^[2], giving her a wide-angle view of this dance, as well the ability to see motion. Unfortunately for him, if Ms. Sparklemuffin doesn’t like what she sees, she’ll eat him. Only four of her eyes see forward, the rest giving new meaning to having eyes in the back – and side – of your head. Those eyes can also see a far greater spectrum of colors than the human eye.

Perhaps just as remarkable as Sparklemuffin’s footloose attitude is that his size does not match his audacity. Sparklemuffin measures a mere 4 mm (1/6 of an inch) and could perch comfortably on your pinkie’s fingernail.

9 Brazilian Crab Spider

Epicadus heterogaster is a member of the crab spider family, so-called because their front legs are longer and arch forward instead of downward, giving them a crab appearance. They also can also “crab walk” sideways and backwards. Crab spiders don’t spin webs, but wait until insects come close enough to ambush.

Epicadus heterogaster does this two ways. The smaller juvenile camouflages itself by perching on flowers that match it’s coloring – either white, yellow or purple.^[3] It also has an abdominal protuberance that could be mistaken for flower petals. Even its slow, jerky movements look more like foliage swaying in the breeze.

An adult Epicadus heterogaster can also lure insects with a body color that reflects UV light. Scientists discovered this when they applied sunscreen to the back of a female and watched insects ignore it. They are not sure why UV reflective light attracts pollinating insects, but it’s possible the light mimics a flower’s UV color patterns or natural bright spots.^[4]

8 Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Metallic Blue Tarantula

First classified in 1899 as Poecilotheria metallica after it was discovered in the Gooty train yard in south central India, this tarantula virtually disappeared for 102 years. Rediscovered in 2001 in a small 100 sq. km (39 sq. mile) forested area in Indias’s Kadapah and Chittoor districts of Andhra Padesh, it quickly became a prized pet for tarantula enthusiasts. Which is both unfortunate and fortunate for this beautiful spider. Andhra Padesh’s forest is quickly degrading due to logging and human encroachment, putting the Gooty Sapphire on the “critically endangered” species list. What was worse, in the years after it was rediscovered, poachers captured these tarantulas to sell. It is now illegal to take Gooty Sapphires out of their natural habitat, but it is legal to purchase domesticated spiders and breed them.^[5] Their popularity in Europe and the US may give the species new hope.

In the wild, Gooty Sapphires build funnel webs in the holes of trees, and wait to ambush any insect that comes near. They then bite their prey with their venomous ¾ inch fangs. Which means only experienced tarantula enthusiasts should take a Gooty Sapphire as pets. They’re aggressive and very fast. While their venom is not normally deadly to humans, their bite is painful and will give a human headaches and increased heart-rates for up to a week.^[6]

The rich blue and yellow hues of the Gooty Sapphire originates not so much from actual coloring, but from tiny nanostructures on the tarantula’s hairs that bend and reflect blue and yellow light. This means the Gooty Sapphire will appear a different color depending on the angle it is viewed, a trait know as iridescence. Peacocks and dragonflies also have this trait.

7 Sequined or Mirror Spider

Another Australian native, Thwaitesia nigronodosa resides in Queensland’s rainforests. Like most of the various members of the genus Thwaitesia, it has been given the monikers Sequined Spider or Mirror Spider, a reference to its disco ball-like butt. Its trunk is filled with specialized cells called guanocytes, a crystalized version of a digestive waste product – guanine – that the spider would normally poop out. The guanine reflects light making it appear silver, like a mirror, and the combined cells form a sort of poop mosaic. This glittery keister is especially helpful when hiding amongst the rain-glistened foliage of a rainforest.^[7]

The Mirror Spider has yet another defense mechanism: if it’s disturbed or must quickly drop from its web, it can immediately hide the guanocyte cells, changing its outer appearance to a drabber hue, like the muddy ground. How it does this is not well understood, but it’s believed it contracts muscles that cover the guanocytes. In short, butt clenches.

6 Elegant Golden Jumping Spider

We’ve known about the beautiful chrysilla lauta for more than 130 years, but it is so rare, and so tiny – a mere few millimeters in size – little is known about it. We don’t know if its beautiful iridescent coloring is for camouflage or catching a mate’s eye. We’re not even really sure what the female of this species looks like.^[8]

What we do know is that chrysilla lauta is a member of the jumping spider family and the few videos of it demonstrate that this little guy is a world-class long jumper. There are more than 5,000 species of jumping spiders and make up about 13 percent of all spider species. Even though they have no leg muscles, they can jump 50 times their own length using hydraulic motion. Their hairy legs also give them traction in virtually any terrain including glass.^[9] That terrain is usually in the jungles of China, Burma and Vietnam.

10 Fascinating Mysteries Involving Spiders

5 Eight-Spotted Crab Spider

Among the largest crab spiders in the world, Platythomisus octomaculatus can be 7.6 cm ( 3 in) in size. Despite this, they are relatively elusive in the wilds of Southeast Asia stretching from India to Burma to Singapore.^[10]

If the name “Eight-spotted” is confusing after counting the spider’s spots, you’re not alone. When the German arachnologist Carl Koch called this species octomaculatus (octo meaning eight) back in 1845, no one seems to know which spots he was counting. His drawings of the species indicates four pairs of abdominal spots, not the three pairs plus an elongated bar we see today. What makes it even more confusing, the number of spots on this spider’s dorsal abdomen changes as it grows. Hatchlings have only two, and, as it ages, acquires more spots not just on the top of its abdomen, but one big one underneath. It also grows six on the forward part of the spider known as the carapace, including the so-called “Panda” spots around its eyes. What’s worse, the size of the spots on the adult female after laying eggs changes significantly. The confusion has led to misidentification of many other species with similar spots.^[11]

4 Triangular Spider

We’ve long been aware for a long time that horseshoe crabs were not crabs at all, but it wasn’t until 2019 that scientists parsed it’s DNA to discover it actually was a distant cousin to spiders and scorpions.^[12]

If we compared the exteriors of spiders and crabs, it would be easy to believe they were related. They are both arthropods, with their skeletons on the outside (i.e. exoskeletons) and both have jointed legs. And Arkys lancearius – a member of the spider crab family – has the coloring and abdomen shape similar to its crustacean namesake. Even its legs are crab-like. That is until you count the legs: arachnids have eight, crustaceans ten or more. And when we look at the innards of crabs and spiders, we can clearly see they are not really related at all.^[13]

Like horseshoe crabs, triangular spiders defy classification. Since it was first described in 1837, Arkys lancearius has been placed in several different families and the debate is still raging. They are common in the warmer environs of Australia and New Zealand and come in either red, yellow, orange, brown, black and white hues.^[14] They are ambush hunters, using webbing as safety lines rather than in trapping prey.

3 Long Horned Orb Weaver Spider

Of the 35,000 species of spiders, half of them form webs to catch prey. Perhaps the most recognizable webs are the radial grid ones, made up of concentric circles and held together by spokes. Most of these creations – commonly used in Halloween decorations – are the work of the orb weaver family (Araneidae).^[15] The term “orb” can be confusing, as it originates from the old English word for a two-dimensional circle, rather than the modern three-dimensional sphere. With more than 3,000 species, the Araneidae family is the third largest among spiders, and the most diverse in size and appearance.

As if to prove the point, the female Macracantha arcuata sports an impressive pair of antenna-like horns on its abdomen. But those horns are not meant to catch some tunes, but – it’s believed – to make her more intimidating to predators.^[16] Those abdomens can either be red, white, black or yellow and the females are often about a centimeter in size. The male is usually a tenth of that in size, which makes him snack-size for the female after coitus.^[17] Macracantha arcuata is yet another denizen of the jungles of Southeast Asia, but, because of accidental introductions, can also now be found in Southeast United States.^[18]

2 Cat-faced Spider

Another orb weaver, Araneus gemmoides has been dubbed the Cat-faced spider because of the pair of horns on its abdomen that look like a kitty’s ears. Posterior to the horns are eye-like dimples with striations on either side similar to a Tabby’s striped cheeks. To complete the image, the abdomen is covered in tiny fine hairs. Araneus gemmoides comes in various colors ranging from a pale yellow to a dark gray-brown.^[19]

The cat-faced spider is fairly common in the western United States, their home stretching from Alaska to California and as far east as Colorado. Both sexes have bulbous butts, but the female’s gets even more bulbous after she mates with (and eats) her paramour. Before the winter frost, Mom is dead, leaving a substantial egg sac chock full of literal ankle-biters. In the spring, the eight-legged babes snack on each other before they hoist silken threads to catch a breeze and carry them elsewhere. The venom of Araneus gemmoides is not dangerous to a human, nor can its fangs pierce the skin. But those fangs can give the back of your hand a severe pinch.^[20]

1 Maratus Madelineae

Maratus Madelineae was not given a flashy name like our earlier entry and fellow peacock spider Sparklemuffin, but the story behind its species name illustrates the explosion of interest in peacock spiders in the last decade.

The peacock spider – genus Maratus – was first described way back in 1874, its beautiful, iridescent belly flaps mistaken for wings. While quite common in Australia, little research was done on the tiny spider for over 130 years with only five more species identified during that time. That all changed in 2005 when a mite expert working for the Australian Department of Agriculture, Jurgen Otto, noticed a brownish speck skipping around his feet during a hike (or, in Aussie parlance, a bushwalk). Otto was an entomologist concerned with six-legged bugs and had never heard of a peacock spider, so he took it to Julianne Waldock, an arachnologist at the West Australia Museum. Waldock had spent the previous decade studying Maratus and it was she who believed the little guy danced and hoisted their colors not to fly but to gain a dance partner.

Otto was enthralled, filling his home with 300 captured peacock spiders. Otto was also an avid photographer and his pictures caught the attention of a South Carolina jumping spider expert, David Hill.^[21] In 2011, Otto used a macro lens to capture a peacock spider’s dance, and created a YouTube video complete with the Bee Gee’s Staying Alive soundtrack and photoshopped maracas. It garnered 7.5 million views. People couldn’t get enough of the cute little guy.

That same year Otto and Hill described and named their first new Maratus species. In the next eight years, they would name 46 more. Waldock would name nine. What’s more, Otto’s YouTube video inspired hordes of amateur scientists and photographers to descend on Australia in search of the tiny dancers. For instance, Maratus Harrisi was named after an amateur photographer, Stuart Harris, simply posted a photo of a peacock spider on Flickr only to find out it was an undiscovered species. Otto, too, has a peacock spider named after him (Maratus Ottoi) as does Waldock (Maratus Julianneae). And Maratus Madelineae is named after Madeline Girard who gave Sparklemuffin its name.^[22] In total, 71 species of peacock spiders were discovered and named between 2011 and 2019.

When Maratus Madelineae dances, it doesn’t just kick a leg up like his cousin Sparklemuffin, but raises two appendages over its head, waving them like he just don’t care. And sometimes he brings them together as if he were clapping. Just below its eyes and covering what would be our mouth are a pair of secondary legs known as pedipalps or just palps. On Maratus Madelineae the palps are white and hairy, looking for all the world like an old man’s beard. And when he dances, he rhythmically bobs those palps, looking like an old man chewing on his dentures. In his video, he looks a little like grandpa attempting the hokey-pokey.

As a final note, for those few who do want a cuddly, stuffed spider toy, they really do make a felt wool-stuffed Maratus Madelineae for your enjoyment. And you can buy a stuffed Sparklemuffin too.^[23]

Top 10 Bizarre Spiders

About the author: Steve is the author of the bestselling biography “366 Days in Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency” and several not-so-bestselling novels, unrecognized (probably because they’re also unpublished) for their literary contribution to the garbage bin.

They’re creepy. They’re crawly. They’re literally everywhere we go, whether we notice them or not. They’re also the inspiration for innovation! What?

Most of us don’t want spiders anywhere near us. It’s always unsettling when they sneak up on us in the shower, while sleeping, walking into an unseen web, suddenly leaping massive distances, or appearing abruptly from a crevice. Their reputation even prompts thoughts of burning down our homes when we come across them! Some are huge, some are deadly, most are harmless, and they eat a lot of things that can harm us.

But it turns out they can inspire much more than fear or super-humans who can sling webs and save those in peril. Who knew these frightening, little, eight-legged creatures could give us way more than we ever imagined. Here are 10 innovations we can thank these little “horrors” for influencing. So maybe they’re not as bad as we like to believe they are. Our nightmares are giving way to dreams of a brighter future.

Related: 10 Strange Facts And Mysteries Involving Spiders

10 Better Than Band-Aids: Surgical Tape That Adheres to Wet Surfaces

Chances are you have definitely needed a band-aid, stitches, or gauze and medical tape to keep a healing wound clean at some point in your life—unless you live in a padded room with no sharp edges anywhere and don’t have any fingernails (but that’s a whole other list). So you probably also know how annoying it can be to have to constantly replace them when they get wet and start slipping around, losing their original purpose. So frustrating…and a bit expensive over time. Here come spiders to save the day and your skin.

Scientists at MIT are in the process of perfecting a surgical tape that can adhere to and seal wounds in seconds by using water the same way spider webs absorb water, resulting in a stickier insect grabber. It is a two-sided adhesive with an incredibly strong bond and has been successfully tested on pig skin and lungs. They used a polyacrylic acid to absorb the water and create a bond reinforced by gelatin that will break down harmlessly in the body as the wound heals. No need to schedule a second appointment for stitch removal or itchy rashes from adhesive medical tape. That sounds pretty great.^[1]

9 Step Back, Kevlar: Spider Silk Body Armor

Kevlar may become an invention of the past even though it, too, was inspired by spider silk. The light, intensely strong polymer used in things from body armor to sailboat sails pales in comparison to some of its newer off-shoots also developed from that sticky elastic that we’ve all unknowingly and unhappily wandered into at some point.

It takes 33 layers of Kevlar to stop a .22 caliber bullet. But a new material, dubbed “Dragon Silk,” made from silk produced by Golden Orb Weaver spiders, can stop the same caliber bullet with only 4 layers. Now that is impressive! It’s so promising that the U.S. Army has invested in its production and expects to be using it extensively in the future. It has taken millions of spiders to create what they have so far. Thank you for your service, you webby geniuses.

And then, there is artificial silk resulting from work being done at Washington University in St. Louis that is called “polymeric amyloid” fiber. This is a derivative of spider silk created from an “engineered bacteria that produced a recombinant silk with performance on par with its natural counterparts in all of the important mechanical properties.” The aim is now to create something even stronger than spider silk. Turns out smarty human brains, bacteria, and spiders make a great team.^[2]

8 Webs Used for Micro-Imaging: Tiny Dome Lenses

The medical world is really fostering a love for incredible spider abilities. At the Tamkang and Yang-Ming Universities in Taiwan, researchers are designing minuscule lenses that can be used for imaging inside a human body. These lenses are so small that they are almost comparable in size to a red blood cell. So they’ll pretty much be able to go anywhere in the body blood goes…so everywhere. That has some extremely promising applications.

They did this by using the actual “dragline silk” of Daddy Long Legs used to frame their webs. A resin was then dripped over the silk frame and baked inside of an ultraviolet oven. As a result, the lenses are also bio-friendly in the body and capable of nanoscale imaging. It could be truly revolutionary for medical research and far less invasive than current technologies. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we ended up with Spidey-senses as a side effect?^[3]

7 Cheeky Devils!: Spider Venom May Be Better Than Viagra

Men who have had the misfortune of being bitten by one of the world’s most venomous spiders, The Brazilian Wandering Spider, have had another detailed side effect beyond pain and torture…very persistent erections. Now there is no recommendation to go find one of these nightmare-inducing beasts and goad it to bite you before a private get-together! But science has taken a cue and some toxins from them to fabricate a gel that achieves the same result.

Granted, the BZ371 gel probably needs a more enticing moniker for the public. But it apparently does its job very well within 20-30 minutes of application without any stimulation, with no side effects as well. And it is reported to last for about 60 minutes. Let’s help out the marketing departments. What are some good names for this wonder gel?^[4]

6 Eight Spindly Limbs: Inspiration for More Efficient Robots

Even if the spiders’ crawl sends chills up your spine, you have to admit it’s one of a kind and lets them do some very remarkable things. If we could all move as well as they do, we’d be fairly unstoppable. Unfortunately, we’re just six legs short with very limited joint direction and flexibility. Even practicing yoga for eight hours a day will never get us anywhere close to the movements of our arachnid brethren. But this ability hasn’t been lost on the robotics world.

Researchers have created limbs and joints in imitation of spider legs that allow greater functionality and fewer components needed for robots used in many different ways. The results are much lighter, smaller parts with superior mobility that can be used in virtually any robot. It has been hailed as a true leap forward in the robotics field. High-eight, Spiders!…but from way, way over there, please.^[5]

5 We Can All Potentially Be Spider-Man!: Real Web Shooters

Who hasn’t wanted to be able to shoot webs after watching or reading Spider-Man? It’s one of those things you pretend you can do even as an adult play-acting alone because it’s so cool (don’t lie, you can admit it—this is a safe place!). Rest assured, someone is working on making it come to life. It may even allow us to swing from building to building eventually as they are perfected. Well, maybe by those physically adept enough to do some gymnastic-like stunts or parkour. Time to start working on that upper body and core strength.

A mechanical engineer and YouTuber from South Africa named JT has created some pretty awesome web-shooters for a thesis project that he has featured on his channel, Built IRL. This is one you’re going to search immediately—because why wouldn’t you? He uses metal cylinders with a long cable embedded with metal hooks that can grab onto metal bars. They’re powered by compressed propane and “a custom-designed igniter.” It’s fun to see life inspired by art stolen from something that truthfully creeps most of us out! Go Spidey-JT.^[6]

4 Trendy, Functional Spider-Wear: Sustainable Web-Inspired Fashion

Now, let’s just admit that the fashion world can take things way too far and look pretty ridiculous in practical life. Of course, these are opinions of someone whose fashion sense is comfortable, plain sneakers, a blank T-shirt, and yoga pants or jeans. Not exactly runway ready! But fashion change can also energize and galvanize an industry that has become environmentally unfriendly with its throw-away culture, synthetic fibers, and toxic processes. Here come spiders to the rescue, again.

A company called Bolt Threads, the first of its kind, has bioengineered a yeast with a spider silk protein gene. As the yeast ferments, it creates a silk protein that is then purified and spun into a textile called MicroSilk. Adidas has already used a hybrid of this material to make a lightweight tennis dress. Another company, AMSilk, has produced a similar material called BioSteel which Adidas has used in a sneaker. And now it seems the airline industry is becoming more interested in these synthetic silk materials because of the weight reduction. Innovation that mimics nature to save nature. Glorious.^[7]

3 Poison Can Kill Pain: Tarantula Venom Could Replace Opioids

We’ve all recently become aware of how real, destructive, and threatening the widespread use of synthetic opioids has become. The side effects can come in many forms: rash, constipation, nausea, respiratory distress, even addiction, and more. The need for alternative pain treatments for people suffering chronic and neuropathic pain is real, and science is on the case.

At the University of Queensland, researchers have found molecules in tarantula venom from the Chinese Bird Spider that can be developed into mini proteins that adhere to pain receptor cells. When used in the correct amount, it can surround the cell membrane around the pain receptors, blocking their abilities. And so far, there have been no recorded side effects.

Now, that is real relief. All the studies have been done on mice for now, but the results are very optimistic for future pain reduction. Who would have ever thought something that delivers some vicious pain could also be used to combat it? Gotta love, or at least appreciate, science.^[8]

2 Spider Silk Milk: Goat Genes Manipulated to Produce Spider Silk

Move over, Dr. Frankenstein! Biomimicry science is growing leaps and bounds. We’re finally taking more lessons from nature instead of trying to dominate her. A company called Nexia has been genetically manipulating goat eggs with Golden Orb Weaver silk genes to create goats that produce spider silk proteins along with their milk. This is possible because the glands in goats that make milk and the glands in spiders that produce silk are very similar. And goat milk has been used to produce other medicines too. So it was a reasonable leap in the scientific mind despite the inevitable controversy.

But, why, right? It’s somewhat common knowledge that spider silks are as strong as or stronger than steel. This strength, along with the flexibility and durability, could have a huge array of usable applications in our daily lives, from engineering buildings and roads in earthquake-prone areas to surgical grafting. So mass-producing the silk is an attractive idea. It’s still not up to snuff with what the spiders can make…yet. But they’re going to keep on weaving until it gets there.^[9]

1 Reflective Webs Can Save Birds: UV-Reflective Glass

Birds have a very unique aspect to their vision; they can see ultraviolet light. How many birds have collided with the glass in your home’s windows? That loud, telling thud is usually startling and occasionally damaging to the glass. Some birds are just stunned for a bit, and some end up quite dead. Well, it turns out that spider webs reflect ultraviolet light that our feathered friends can see. This is why they don’t have to constantly rebuild those dainty insect death traps with all the birds sharing the same spaces. Instead, our feathered friends can see them to avoid them, saving the spider time and work and the bird a sticky, unwanted mess. That’s actually pretty cool!

This discovery inspired a German glass company, Glaswerke Arnold, to develop the Orinlux Bird Protection Glass. Buildings that use this glass embedded with UV-reflective strands have reportedly had 75-90 percent fewer bird strikes. To us, the windows just look like your average, transparent pane of glass while the “invisible,” chaotic, UV patterns warn birds there is no open air to soar through. It was developed in 2006 and is finally taking hold across many new buildings while being projected to be very widely used in the near future. Yay for bird safety and spider inspiration!^[10]

+ Spider Music!

If you haven’t heard it yet, people have now used the construction of spider webs to create music with 3-D video, and it’s as eerie as you would imagine it to be! Have a listen. Spider Canvas was a collaborative project between MIT’s CAST faculty, a Ph.D. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, the head of the same department, a Music and Theatre Arts lecturer, and a composer and video artist.

This amazing web of work is truly beautiful and haunting. Halloween just got a new theme song.^[11]