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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 brown recluse spider 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
Black widow spider
9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders
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?
Discover
bird. mourning dove. pigeon and dove. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) family Columbidae.
Nikola Tesla's Weird Obsession with Pigeons
Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time
Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution
The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution
Data analysis of the Super Bowl's "winningest" teams, game locations, MVP winners by position, teams with the most game losses. football, sports, infographic
From Sport to Spectacle: The History of the Super Bowl
King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)
9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes
January 21, 2019: Superbowl LIII will be played at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, February 3, 2019 against the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.
What Was the Super Bowl’s First Blockbuster Commercial?
Ice Sledge Hockey, Hockey Canada Cup, USA (left) vs Canada, 2009. UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver, BC, competition site for Olympic ice hockey and Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver Olympics
10 Best Hockey Players of All Time

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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 •

Newly discovered fungus turns cave-dwelling spiders into ‘zombies’ • Feb. 14, 2025, 1:57 AM ET (CNN)
Scared of Spiders? Also Scared of Zombies? We Have Some Bad News. • Feb. 8, 2025, 4:23 AM ET (New York Times)
'Mind-Controlling' Fungus Turns Spiders Into 'Zombies' • Feb. 5, 2025, 12:50 AM ET (Newsweek)