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spider
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References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
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 A medically significant arachnid sheet-web weaver spider
Know how some spiders walk on the surface of the water
spider: trichobothrium Australian funnel-web spider
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
King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)
9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes
Big beaver gnawing on limb at river's edge
6 Animal Species that Mate for Life
Amendments 1-10 to the Constitution of the United States constitute what is known as the Bill of Rights on an American flag.
What Is the Emoluments Clause?
NBA Lakers Celtics Finals Kevin Garnett shooting.
10 Great Sports Rivalries
Flags of the United Kingdom of Great Britain - England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Union Flag.
Acts of Union: Uniting the United Kingdom
Aspirin pills.
7 Drugs that Changed the World
Internet http://www blue screen. Hompepage blog 2009, history and society, media news television, crowd opinion protest, In the News 2009, breaking news
Who Invented the Internet?

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Also known as: Araneae, Araneida
Written by
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,
Joseph Culin
Professor of Entomology, Clemson University, South Carolina.
Joseph Culin•All
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: • Article History

News •

World's first gene-edited spiders spin red silk • May 12, 2025, 11:52 PM ET (Earth.com)
New Caterpillar Found in Hawaii Wears Dead Bugs and Lives With Spiders • Apr. 25, 2025, 4:31 AM ET (Gizmodo)