Spitting spider
The spitting spider is a small spider with long thin legs and a high, rounded back. It does not need a web to catch its food. Instead it spits sticky threads over its prey, which glue it to the spot.
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Fun facts
It has six eyes instead of the eight most spiders have.
It spits two zigzag threads in less than a hundredth of a second.
Before it spits, it creeps up slowly and measures the distance to its prey with one front leg.
It probably finds its prey with long sensitive hairs on its legs.
The mother carries her eggs under her body in a little silk net.
Most asked questions about Spitting spider
?Can a spitting spider spit at people?
It spits only at the small insects it hunts. It is harmless to people.
?How does a spitting spider catch its food?
It sneaks close and spits sticky threads over the insect so it cannot move.
?Where do spitting spiders live?
Almost all over the world, often in houses, where they wander about at night.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scytodes thoracica
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Scytodidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Scytodidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Scytodes thoracica (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by André Karwath aka Aka. CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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