The Spitting Spider (Latin name Scytodes thoricica) belongs to the family of six eyed spiders. (Haplogynae). It is called the “Spitting Spider” because it spits a poisonous sticky substance over its prey. Its body size ranges between 3 and 6 mm.
Table of Contents
Habitat:
This spider lives in New Mexico which is in North America.
Prey:
The Spitting Spider has small poison jaws at its head with two large openings in its fangs. The spider has silk glands connected with its poison glands so that it can make poisonous silk. It is a slow hunter and seems to use special long hearing hairs on its legs to locate its prey. It hunts at night and moves slowly towards its prey.
When it is about 10mm away , it stops and carefully measures the distance with one front leg. Then it squeezes the back of its body together and spits two poisonous silk threads in one six-hundredth of a second, in a zigzag manner over the victim. The prey is immediately immobilized. If the prey is big, the spider spits several times.
Breeding:
The female Spitting Spider does not make a nest, but carries her eggs on her belly in a net of silk
Venom:
Although the Spitting Spider is venomous to insects, it is not known to be dangerous to man.
Conclusion:
Unlike most spiders, the Spitting Spider’s cephalothorax is larger than its abdomen. It is a circular shape and it is much higher at the end than the front.
By Devin
Click here for more photos of Spitting Spiders.
Information and pictures were taken from children’s projects and where credited to that child does not claim to be original information. Where possible, permission to reproduce has been sought. Any infringement of copyright is purely unintentional.