Classification and habitat
Centipedes (as they are called informally) are representatives of the araneomorphic. The family is divided into 80 genera. Among them there are many synanthropes, common in human homes in almost all countries.
The spider lives on all continents except the South Pole. Arachnids build their dirty, non-symmetrical nets in dark and damp depressions, such as caves, under rocks, loose bark, in abandoned mammalian burrows. In human dwellings, folcides are built in attics, basements and other untouched places in buildings.
Special features
If you grab the hayman by the leg, it will easily come off. For a few more minutes, the severed limb will make convulsive movements.
The ease with which a limb comes off creates the deceptive impression that the legs are not firmly attached to the body. In fact, this is not the case. The haymaker deliberately separates the limb. The foot is detached like a lizard's tail. This autotomy helps haymakers to escape from enemies.
The predator first stumbles upon the legs, and then is distracted by a moving limb, while the animal is fleeing. Therefore, you can often find individuals who have an incomplete number of legs.
Wildlife and private home behavior
The Pholcidae web is not sticky; insects are kept in it due to its irregular structure. Having found prey in the nets, the arachnid quickly envelops it in threads and inflicts a poisonous bite. If the predator is hungry - eats the prey immediately, full - leaves it for later. After eating, the arthropod cleans the nets by unhooking and releasing prey from it.
Some representatives have an interesting feature: when threatened, they begin to respond with rapid vibrations of a rotational movement in the web. Perhaps in this way, representatives of the araneomorphic give a signal for the alleged rival to leave.
The spider on thin long legs that lives in the apartment is rather cowardly. If you start chasing, he will retreat to a corner or fall out of his web and run away.
Appearance description
The centipede spider, which lives in our area, reaches a body size of 2-10 mm. In the largest representative, the abdomen is 22 mm. The length of the legs is comparable to the dimensions of the body, or several times more. The most common braid spider has legs that are 20 times longer than the body - up to 16 cm.
Unlike other types of spiders, the abdomen is connected to the chest by a wide jumper, practically merging together. While many spiders have a thin "waist". The body is in most cases oval. When the soil is very hot, the long surfaces raise the body high to avoid overheating.
The spider has 6-8 eyes on its head, but it sees the animal very poorly. The organs of touch and smell are located on the legs. This is the main body that connects the haymaker with the outside world. The long-legged spider senses the slightest vibrations in the air, vibration, and smells. You can carefully consider the structural features of the arthropod in the photo of the haymaker spider located further.
Haymaker spider (braid)
Body size and structure
Folcids, both in reality and in pictures, look unpleasant and unsightly. The body is oval, 2-10 mm in size. Thin legs extend from it, several times longer than the body. In some arthropods, the legs are 20 times the size of the body.
The body consists of the cephalothorax and abdomen. It has a translucent but durable cover.
The family got its name because of the external resemblance to the haymakers. The scythe spider (as the people call the haymaker) belongs to the order Opiliones. Although folcides are also called braids.
Cephalothorax
On the upper part of the rounded prosoma, there are 8 or 6 eyes. The anterior medials are small or absent in the six-eyed species. The secondary eyes are arranged in two triads. Chelicerae are located below the visual organs. They consist of a main segment articulating with the cephalothorax and a part of the canine aligned with the base segment. The fangs look like scissors - they lean towards each other and intersect in a pinching action. In males, the chelicerae have tooth-like growths, the lip is wide, fused with the sternum.
The carapace is rounded with an often raised head region. The sternum is convex, with sinuous lateral parts, strongly shortened at the back.
Abdomen
The shape of the abdomen is different - from spherical to elongated-cylindrical. The color of the abdomen is from pale gray to deep dark brownish gray. In some representatives, a heart sign is clearly visible, in others it is slightly darker than the main color. There is a stripe on the midline of the opitosome. Holocnemus pluchel has spots instead of stripes, very similar to a giraffe. There are arachnoid warts on the anterior lower part of the abdomen.
Leg tentacles
Hay spiders have 4 pairs of legs. They perform not only the basic, but also the tactile function, help to find food, to escape from enemies. When walking, arthropods use an alternating gait of tetrapods (first right leg, then second left, next third right, etc.).
Pholcidae have a valuable feature - the ability to restore a lost organ. If you grab an arachnid by the paw, he will throw it away, and later the leg will recover.
Spider size
Pholcidae are spiders with a small body and long, fragile but nimble legs. The dimensions of the body do not exceed 1 cm, but the limbs of certain haymakers reach 6-7 cm. Such an absurd structure does not prevent the primitive predator from hunting well and quickly leaving the place of danger.
Reproduction
The mating season lasts from early July to late August. The method of fertilization is internal, more like insects. The fertilized female lays her eggs in the soil. Reproduces up to 600 pieces at a time. The younger generation, eggs, remain for the winter. One population appears per year, rarely two. The spider lives no more than 2 years.
Cubs differ little in appearance from adults. A spider with a small body, with large paws. The growing up period lasts several days. A young haymaker sheds 7 times. It gradually increases in size, acquires a darker color. In the last stage of development, puberty occurs.
Interesting!
Mating games do not take place, but fights between males do occur quite often. The maternal instinct is possessed by males - they guard the clutches of eggs from females capable of devouring cubs.
Types of hay spiders
The taxonomy includes more than 1500 species contained in more than 80 genera. A description of each can be found in the World Spider Directory, an online database related to the taxonomy of arachnids. In Russia, 11 species from three genera have been registered. Basically, these are synintropes living in the neighborhood of people.
- Pholcus phalangioides;
- Pholcus opilionoides;
- Psilochorus simoni;
- Spermophora senoculata and others.
Psilochorus is found in the wild in the south of the Russian Federation.
Phalanx folcus
Pholcus phalangioides is a domestic inhabitant of the Pholcidae family. Some call it the spider skull, because of the similarity of the cephalothorax to the human skull. He lives on the ceilings of rooms, garages, basements. It is considered useful as it kills other arachnids, including dangerous ones (vagabonds, red spiders).
The species was first recorded and described in 1775 by entomologist Johann Füssli.Females grow up to 9 mm, males are slightly smaller. The size of the legs is approximately 5-6 times the length of the body. In females, it reaches seven centimeters.
The abdomen is cylindrical. In a female with oocytes, the abdomen looks like a ball. The chitinous cover is colored yellow-brown with dark gray and beige markings. There are 2 dark gray spots on the cephalothorax.
Initially, representatives inhabited the warm western parts of the Palaearctic. With the help of humans, Sinanthropus spread throughout the world. It does not tolerate cold weather and is limited to heated houses in parts of its range.
Phalangeal folkus is not aggressive, the reaction to a threat is a strong shaking of the web. It feeds on other arachnids, even large ones, such as Eratigena atrica, mosquitoes, wood lice.
Crossoprizalyoni
People call it a spider with long thin legs. Prefers to live in artificial habitats created by humans. The "homeland" of the species is unknown. It was introduced to other parts of the world by accident. It is now widespread everywhere.
Crossoprizalyoni is characterized by sexual dimorphism. Females grow up to 3-7 cm, males - 2.5-7 cm. In males, legs are longer than in females, the first pair of limbs reaches up to 6 cm. Feet - from gray to amber, and covered with brown spots.
The cephalothorax is wider, the carapace is sub-circular. In the middle of the upper surface, there is a deep depression, which is darker. Arthropods have 6 pearly white eyes located at the tip of the prosoma. Opistosoma gray, with white lateral stripes. The abdomen is angular, box-like, with a large conical hump on the upper back.
A single male is capable of copulating with several females. The mating process lasts 40 minutes. Unlike most other arachnids, females of Crossopriza lyoni rarely eat their partner after mating. The new generation hatches 11-13 days after laying the eggs. The average life expectancy is at least 194 days.
Representatives are not considered dangerous, but the ubiquitous webs annoy people, and they try to fight the spiders.
Physocyclus globosus
Arachnid is known as the short-haired basement spider. It lives in cool, damp, dark rooms, in nature - in caves in warm parts of the world.
Like all folcid species, Physocyclus globosus is a long-legged. It is a small brown primostome (body length 6 mm) with a short, wide belly. A black stripe runs along the back of the carapace and most of the abdomen. At the elevation of the cephalothorax there are 8 eyes.
Smeringopus pallidus
A fairly common type of long-legged spider. Usually found in dusty, dark rooms (closets) and corners of the house (behind a closet). It can also build cobwebs under indoor drains, on building walls, in gardens. Hang upside down in a web, vibrate strongly in danger to confuse the intruder.
As in other species, the male is smaller than the female - on average, about 7 mm. The abdominal cavity is cylindrical, elongated. On the dorsal surface of the abdomen, there are purple spots characteristic of this species. The legs are covered with hairs, without thorns.
Synanthropic arachnids build asymmetric webs in sheltered areas to catch flies, mosquitoes, bees, and other spiders for food.
Psilochorus simony
In the wild, the braided leg lives in Mexico and South America. In countries with colder climates, it lives in man-made houses and buildings. The primitive animal is small, body length 1.9-3 mm. The cephalothorax is light brown with a dark spot in the middle. Above there are 8 eyes in two rows. The opistosoma is oval, humpbacked, brown in color with gray spots. Legs - from yellow to light brown tones.
Who needs long legs
The haymaker has long legs that he can easily handle. Nature has thought out a unique principle of controlling these limbs. The legs are bent with the help of a muscle that tightens the tendon (muscular-mechanical action). They unfold from the pressure of the hemolymph, which accumulates inside (hydraulic action). Such a well-oiled mechanism is incredibly economical: it avoids the need to have many small muscles. The haymaker can safely wrap his paw around any blade of grass or small pebble.The walking brace easily overcomes obstacles and can move even in hot or cold weather, carrying the little body high above the surface.
The mechanism of movement of the haymaker interested specialists in the field of bionics (applied science, which studies the use of the principles of functioning of living forms in technology). Shoe feet give ideas to writers and artists, they are developed by specialists who are working on the creation of ... walking apparatus for studying other planets.
Such an assault rifle is thought of as a walking device that has a number of advantages over a wheeled or tracked assault rifle, especially in terms of orientation and overcoming obstacles. The equipment for research and movement is concentrated in a sealed capsule that rises on several long articulated legs. At the ends of the legs and in the joints there are sensors that send information about the touch of the leg to the substrate and its relative positions, in accordance with which further coordinated movements are programmed at each moment. The walking automaton will be able to orient itself "by touch", bypass and overcome obstacles. … The technical principles of operation are the same even in details. For example, it is believed that the combination of mechanical and hydraulic principles that is observed in the haymaker's leg is most expedient for setting the legs in motion: flexion due to the cord passing through the segments to the end of the leg, and extension by the pressure of the fluid filling the leg ("Animal Life" , volume III).
What does it eat?
Pholcidae are predators, feeding on flies, mosquitoes. But there are species that invade the networks or nests of other spiders and devour the host, oocytes or prey. Folcids move someone else's web, imitating the struggle of a trapped prey in order to lure the owner closer.
What do haymaking spiders eat in the forest in winter when there are no flies? When the haymakers are hungry, they hunt on their own, without waiting for the prey to be caught in the nets. In the colder months, not all insects sleep in burrows until spring. Butterflies hiding in hollows, beetles hiding under the bark become prey.
Mites
Ticks are a rare "product" of the folcide diet. Falling into a fragile web, they bite the threads and are easily freed before the arrival of the predator. Sometimes arachnids feed on the prey of spider mites, at the same time devouring the hosts.
Flies
Diptera insects are the main "dish" of the long-legged spider's diet. The beauty of having folcide in your apartment is the ability to help maintain balance. Haymakers feed on other domestic arachnids and pests. Flies, annoying carriers of gastrointestinal infections, are under control in people's homes thanks to the long-legged spider living in them.
Aphid
Aphids live in areas with lush vegetation. In the wild, during the cold season, a hungry spider eats hibernating eggs left by females under the bark of trees. Adults are caught in the net, but infrequently.
Beetles
The representative of the arachnids is quite gluttonous and indiscriminate in food. When food is scarce, for example in winter, it feeds on house beetles. Woodlice, ants, cockroaches, skin beetles are caught in the web of a long-legged spider or other arachnids. The hungry folcid is not embarrassed by the fact that the victim has fallen into other people's nets, the arachnids barbarously climb into them and eat their prey.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes try to settle near people's dwellings. They live in the crevices of buildings, damp basements. During the day they sit on the ceiling waiting for the victim. In all these places, the haymaking spider sets up its nets, which insects stumble upon. Their size and weight do not allow them to break the cobweb, mosquitoes often become prey for primorsome animals.
Is it dangerous for humans
This type of spider is not dangerous to humans, due to its inability to damage human skin with its weak jaws.Even if insect venom gets on the mucous membrane or into an open wound, its concentration will not be enough to cause harm.
Many people are panicky afraid of spiders and even a simple "watch" can make them fear. In this case, you just need to remove these uninvited guests from your home.
Should you be afraid of the haymaker?
Pholcidae live in human homes, often annoying with their appearance and ubiquitous cobwebs. The negative attitude has become the reason for the legend that the arachnids have the most dangerous poison of all spiders. The stories are fueled by the fact that folcids prey on other venomous "brethren" that can cause serious trouble to the person they bite.
In reality, haymaking spiders throw a web on poisonous victims and immobilize it. The process is carried out at a safe distance. Folcids eat prey after it loses its ability to harm.
Small and weak chelicerae cannot pierce the thick skin of people. The poison is slightly toxic to insects, and poses no danger to humans. With a bite, you can feel a slight burning sensation, but this is a reaction to an external stimulus.
Social structure
In the first year of life, the spider sheds five times. After this period, he becomes sexually mature. The males have a secret with which they fertilize the female. On a date, the haymaker goes home to the female. He finds a web and shakes it.
When the chosen one appears in front of him, he feels her with his thin front legs. So the spider lets her know that he wants to mate. If he does not warn the female, then she can attack him. But even immediately after fertilization, the haymaker must have time to escape, otherwise the beloved will kill him and eat him.
Each mating is very dangerous for the male. During his life, he manages to fertilize no more than three females. But females kill many more brethren when they just fall into her web.
After mating, the spider lays 10 to 50 eggs, pulls them together with a net and carries them with her in chelicera. With careless movements, some fall out and die. A few weeks later, little haymen appear. The weaker ones remain in the egg, since they cannot even break through it. The spider eats such, the rest are experiencing the first molt.
After this procedure, the gray body becomes almost transparent, and the legs are very short. For a few more weeks, the spiders remain with their mother - she again carries them on the net. After 3-4 months, the cubs leave to look for their own home, weave a web and begin to hunt on their own.
