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Introduction:
The Spitting Spider (Latin name Scytodes thoricica) belongs to the
family of six eyed spiders. (Haplogynae). It is called the "Spitting
Spider" because it spits a poisonous sticky substance over its prey. Its
body size ranges between 3 and 6 mm.
 Habitat:
This spider lives in New Mexico which is in North
America.
Prey:
The Spitting Spider has small poison jaws at its
head with two large openings in its poison fangs. The spider has silk
glands connected with its poison glands so that it can make poisonous
silk. It is a slow hunter and seems to use special long hearing hairs on
its legs to locate its prey. It hunts at night and moves slowly towards
its prey. When
it is about 10mm away , it stops and carefully measures the distance
with one front leg. Then it squeezes the back of its body together and
spits two poisonous silk
threads in one six-hundredth of a second, in a zigzag manner over the
victim. The prey is immediately immobilized. If the prey is big, the
spider spits
several times.
Breeding: The female
Spitting Spider does not make a nest, but carries her eggs on her belly
in a net of silk.
Venom: Although the
Spitting Spider is poisonous to insects, it is not known to be dangerous
to man.
Conclusion: Unlike most
spiders, the Spitting Spider's cephalothorax is larger than its abdomen.
It is a circular shape and it is much higher at the end than the front.
Information
and pictures were taken from children's projects and where credited to that
child does not claim to be original information. Where possible, permission
to reproduce has been sought. Any infringement of copyright is purely
unintentional.
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