Tired of politics, let's talk about spiders. The first spiders appeared on the planet about 2.5 billion years ago. Thanks to their extraordinary adaptability and vitality, they gave rise to more than 30,000 species of modern spiders, which have settled in all inhabited latitudes. One of them is Araneus diadematus - the cross spider.
The common spider (Araneus diadematus) is a representative of the family of orb-web spiders of the genus Araneomorpha spiders. It prefers damp and damp places. Most often found in fields, meadows, forests, near ponds and rivers. The insect is a convinced hermit predator that does not tolerate members of its own kind.
On the upper side of the cross's abdomen you can see light brown or white spots that form a cross, which is why it got its name. The color of Crosses may vary depending on their habitat. If it is exposed to the sun more, it fades and has a light color, and if it is in a shaded area, then it is dark. This also helps the spider to camouflage itself from enemies: birds and some types of flies, which lay their eggs directly into the spider, taking advantage of it while it waits for the victim without moving.
They cannot digest food themselves, so they are characterized by external digestion. It releases digestive juices into the body of the victim caught in the net, which slowly digest it. The cross remains to suck out the nutrient mixture. The mouthparts are piercing-sucking type. It feeds on small insects, such as fruit flies, flies, and less commonly bees and wasps.
Cross spiders catch their prey using webs. More precisely, their females - male spiders do not weave webs. Female spiders guard their prey either in the center of the web or sitting next to it, on a signal thread. Mostly flies or mosquitoes get caught in the web. If it comes across prey that is too large and inedible, for example a wasp, the spider can free it by tearing off the web.
The spider either eats the caught prey immediately on the spot, or, if it is not too hungry, drags it into a secluded corner or entangles it in a web. Around the web, under the leaves, you can find a whole food warehouse of flies entangled in the web, stored for a rainy day.
The web of the female cross has exactly 39 radii, 1245 points of attachment of the radii to the spiral and 35 turns of the spiral - no more, no less. The webs of all spiders are as similar to one another as two peas in a pod, because all the necessary data is genetically enshrined in their heredity. Therefore, even small spiders know how to build webs and catch prey.
Any web is not only beautiful in its symmetry and delicacy, it is very rationally arranged. All the threads that form it are very light and, nevertheless, very strong, and are connected in such a way that they only work to break.
Male spiders are smaller than females. When courting, the male spider, so that his girlfriend does not eat him, carefully approaches the edge of the web and tugging the threads with his front legs, waits for the female to respond to him with the same movements. And only after this the gentleman decides to go on a date in the hope of not being eaten. After mating, the spider dies. The female weaves a special cocoon from the web for eggs (lays it in the fall). She wears the cocoon on herself for some time.
The cocoon woven by the female contains from three hundred to eight hundred amber eggs. The eggs overwinter in a cocoon, and in the spring young spiders begin to emerge from them. They remain in the cocoon for some time, then crawl away to begin an independent life. Small spiders have weak limbs, so it is more convenient for them to move from place to place, gliding on the web. The common cross hunts constantly; flies, mosquitoes, mosquitoes, midges, moths and aphids fall into its nets.
Female cross spider devours male
Many people believe that the Crusader spider is poisonous. We can say that this is true because all spiders are poisonous. But its poison is not dangerous for humans. It paralyzes insects and rodents. If you are “lucky enough” to be bitten, then apart from minor irritation and itching, nothing terrible will happen. It is also safe for cattle, dogs, and sheep.
Currently, there are about 2,000 species of crosses in the world, approximately 30 of which live in Russia and the CIS countries. The most famous are the following types:
Common cross (lat. Araneus diadematus)
The common cross (lat. Araneus diadematus) is one of the most common species, representatives of which can be found throughout European territory and in certain states of North America. These cross spiders live in coniferous forests, swamps and bushland. The female of the common cross grows up to 2-2.5 cm in length, the male is 2 times smaller (up to 1.1 cm in length) and has a narrower body. The body of the cross is covered with a waxy substance that retains moisture, and the cephalothorax is protected by a durable shell. On the upper part of the spider's abdomen there is a pattern in the form of a cross.
Angular cross (lat. Araneus angulatus)
The angular cross (lat. Araneus angulatus) is a rare species of cross, listed in the Red Book of St. Petersburg as endangered. It lives in Russia, as well as in the Palearctic region (Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, northern Africa). A distinctive feature of the species is the absence of a characteristic cross of light spots. Instead, the angular crosses are decorated with 2 small humps located on the abdomen, and the body is dotted with many light hairs. Females grow to 1.5-1.8 cm, males are 1-1.2 cm long.
Cross spider Araneus albotriangulus
The cross spider Araneus albotriangulus lives in Australia (New South Wales and Queensland). The crosswort has very small body sizes: females grow up to 4 mm, the length of males does not exceed 2 mm. Instead of the traditional cross, yellow or light brown spots are symmetrically located on the abdomen, resembling wings or right triangles.
Cross spider Araneus cavaticus (barn spider)
The cross spider Araneus cavaticus (barn spider) lives in North America, most common in the northeastern United States and Canada. This spider uses rocky cliffs, grottoes, mine entrances, and barns to set up trapping nets; it is often found near human habitation. Sexual dimorphism of this species is weakly expressed: the size of females is 1.3-2.2 cm, males - 1-2 cm. Females are distinguished by a light or yellowish abdomen in the center with dark brown jagged edges. There is an intermittent dark stripe below, and two white spots are clearly visible on top of the black background.
Cat-faced spider (lat. Araneus gemmoides)
The cat-faced spider (lat. Araneus gemmoides) lives in the western United States and Canada. The length of females is 1.3 – 2.5 cm, the length of the male cross is from 5.4 to 7.9 mm. The fleecy body of the spider can be dark or light, and instead of a cross, the abdomen is decorated with an expressive pattern, very reminiscent of the face of a cat.
Cross spider Araneus mitificus
The cross spider Araneus mitificus or “Pringles spider” is a typical representative of the Asian fauna, distributed from India, Nepal and Bhutan to Australia. A notable feature of the cross spider is an exact copy of the mustachioed face from Pringles chips packages, located in the place of the traditional cross. These spiders hunt only from ambush, and their networks are always missing one section, but there is a signal thread stretched into the shelter. The size of adult females is 6-9 mm, males - 3-5 mm, but their modest sizes do not prevent spiders from proudly wearing the “face” of popular chips.
Oak spider
The oak cross spider (lat. Araneus ceropegius, Aculepeira ceropegia) lives in thickets of bushes and tall grass of forest edges, groves and gardens of the temperate climate zone. Oak crosses live in Europe, Russia, northern Africa, as well as in Asian countries north of the Himalayas, excluding the Arabian Peninsula. Females and males are characterized by an abdomen pointed at both poles and a well-pubescent cephalothorax. The length of the female cross is 1.2-1.4 cm, the male - 0.7-0.8 cm. The upper side of the brown abdomen is decorated with a light herringbone, and below there is an elongated yellow spot.
Four-spotted cross (lat. Araneus quadratus)
The four-spotted cross or meadow cross (lat. Araneus quadratus) is found in damp, open grassy areas. Lives in Europe, Central Asia, Russia, Japan. The shape, size and color are very similar to the common cross. On the upper part of the abdomen, the cross spider has 4 round light spots or 4 dark dots, depending on the main color of the body. Below is a blurry leaf-like pattern. The main body color varies from light green and carmine to black-brown. There may be light stripes on the paws. The length of females is 1.7 cm, males are half as long. Adult female cross spiders can change color and blend in color with their surroundings.
Cross spider Araneus sturmi
The Araneus sturmi spider is a rare orb-weaving spider that lives primarily in coniferous forests in the Palearctic region (Europe, Russia, Asia north of the Himalayas, northern Africa). The maximum body length of these spiders is 5.5 mm, females are usually longer than males: the length of females is 5-5.5 mm, the length of males is 4 mm. The modest size of the cross is compensated by the variety of colors. The usual color of individuals of both sexes is reddish-brown, but very beautiful red-yellow-green specimens are also found. A distinctive feature of this species of cross spider is the “epaulets,” dark areas in the front of the abdomen.
Chilly cross (lat. Araneus alsine)
Chilly cross (lat. Araneus alsine) is a typical inhabitant of moist deciduous forests of the temperate zone. Externally, this spider resembles a meadow cross and has 4 similar large spots on the abdomen, but differs in color, which is dominated by orange and beige tones. The spider's abdomen is dotted with small light spots, so the spider looks like a strawberry (hence its English name “strawberry spider”). Females of the chilly cross grow from 7 to 13 mm, the length of males is 5-6 mm.
- Due to its high strength and elasticity, spider web threads have been used for making fabrics and jewelry since ancient times, and tropical residents still weave nets and fishing nets from it.
- The web of the cross spider is used in microbiology to determine the composition of atmospheric air and as the finest optical fiber.
- The cross spiders themselves move inside the web along radial, dry threads, so they do not stick to their own trapping network.
- The life cycle of the cross spider, depending on the species, is about 1-2 years.
