Essay On Black Widow Spider

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Black Widow

Classification
The spider is a wide known organism with a wide influence on life. The Black Widow spider is just one of tens of thousands types of spiders. Southern Black Widow is a common name for the spider which is classified scientifically as K: Animalia, P: Arthropoda, C: Arachnida, O: Araneae, F: Theridiidae, G:Latrodectus, S: mactans. There are 31 differnet species from the genus Latrodectus. This genus is commonly referred to as widow spiders. Other members of this genus include hesperus, varilous, and revivensis (http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/venanimals/ven_spidblkwid.html).
The class spiders belong is Arachnida. Class Arachnida contains one of the defining traits of a spider, having eight legs. Other species included in this class include scorpions, tics, and harvestman. The order that defines spiders is Araneae which contains three suborders that are Mesothelae, Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae. A specific characteristic to this order is that these species bodies are divided into two distinct sections, the cephalothorax (anterior) and abdomen (posterior). Finally, the genus of the South Black Widow spider is Latrodectus. This genus is famous for having spiders with a poisonous bite (Preston-Mafham 1984).

Black Widow Spider

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-422/444-422.html

Physiology
(Muscles/skeletal/locomotion)
The spider’s body is relatively simple. Similar to the rest of the species in Arthropoda, the spider has an exoskeleton that protects it from its environment. This exoskeleton protects the entire body of the spider that includes two segmented sections (the cephalothorax and the abdomen), as well as the four pairs of legs. An example of sexual dimorphism in the Southern Black...

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...itude towards spiders is favorable… Although many people, especially in the West, feel a high degree of revulsion towards spiders and may in fact be frightened by them” (Mafham 1984). Living in the west, we have always been exposed to a fear of spiders in Hollywood movies or sudden reactions when someone sees one. The most important reason spiders are beneficial to humans is the control of insects. Spiders are huge predators for insects such as mosquitos, flies, and others; some which can often carry diseases deadly to humans. In addition to disease control, spider venom and silk can be used to benefit society. The silk has been used in eyepieces for guns or in an attempt to create textiles. The venom has more potential to reach more wide spread success in biotechnology where research shows it could benefit victims of heart attacks or Alzheimer’s disease.

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