Spiders
Why are they beneficial?
Spiders help to keep the insect populations low, by feeding on many types of insects including crickets, flies, bees, grasshoppers, moths and butterflies.1
Spider Biology
Spiders have a broad variability in appearance, ranging from grays to bright red and yellow colours. They have two body regions, the cephalothorax which contains the eyes and legs and the abdomen, which contains the spinnerets. Spiders produce silk, from which their webs are built.2
Where to Find Spiders?
If the spider is a web builder, their webs are located near the flying insects in moist areas or flowers and even some webs are on the ground to catch crawling insects.3 Spiders can sneak and inhabit homes that are not their natural habitats.
Spider Facts
Spiders are actually arachnids and not bugs. Arachnids are a class of animals that include spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks. They differ from insects because they have four pairs of legs and no antennae.4 Spiders can vary from size of a pinhead to as large as a dinner plate.5 A spider eats about 2,000 insects a year.6 All spiders are carnivorous — most eat insects but some larger species can eat mice or even small birds.7
1 http://insected.arizona.edu/spiderinfo.htm
2 http://insected.arizona.edu/spiderinfo.htm
3 http://insected.arizona.edu/spiderinfo.htm
4 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_spiderfacts.html
5 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_spiderfacts.html
6 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_spiderfacts.html
7 http://www.explorit.org/science/spider.html