Hobbies And Interests
Araneidae
Most araneidae spiders have poor vision, and depend on vibrations in their web to sense prey or mates. Araneidae, like most orb weavers, have three claws per foot, which is one more than most spiders. This helps them manipulate the silk as they spin their webs. Araneidae also have a venomous bite that immobilizes their prey once it's caught in the web. They often rebuild their webs every day, by eating the silk of the old web and spinning a new one. Some of the silk threads are sticky to trap prey and some are smooth. The spider can recognize the smooth threads and doesn't get entangled in her own web.
Tetragnathidae
Tetragnathidae, called long jawed orb weavers because of their pronounced jaws and their webs, make up around 1000 known species in 51 genera. Most of these known species live in the tropics. They generally spin their webs close to water, though many of these spiders live in dry climates or in caves. Many tetragnathidae spiders spin webs that are open in the middle, or have an open hub. Some species of Tetragnathidae have elongated or strangely shaped abdomens, and can be very colorful.
Nephilidae
Nephilidae are found in the southern United States and the tropics. Their webs can be huge, more than three feet across, and the females are many times larger than the males. The female spider can grow to an inch long and can have a leg span up to 6 inches. She has noticeable tufts of hair on her legs. The male only grows to about 0.2 inch. The golden silk spider, a nephilidae species, spins a web that glows gold in the sunlight, and adult spiders sometimes only build half a web. Young spiders build a whole web. The silk is so strong that fishermen in the South Sea islands sometimes use the webs for nets.
Uloboridae
Uloborids aren't related to the other three families, but they also make orb webs, even though these webs often are horizontal and cribellate. This means that their silk is fuzzy rather than sticky. Uloborids lack poison glands and are most abundant in the tropics.