Pholcidae spiders.

Essay by wat_sup2002 September 2003

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The Pholcidae, or "Daddy long - legs" spiders are extremely thin, fragile spiders, with an average body length of 5.5mm in length, and a leg length of up to 30mm.

These long leg lengths are at an advantage for the Pholcidaespiders when hunting other spiders, so that they go undetected whilst approaching its pray

Another common means to capturing prey, is achieved by quiet the opposite of the first hunting method. The Pholcidae enters the victims web, and using its ability to vibrate at high speeds, draws the host spider closer to the Pholcidae. When close enough, the Pholcidae will spray the host with silk web, then the Pholcidae quickly bites and injects the host with its deadly venom.

The Pholcidae not only uses this vibrating skill to hunt, but also as a defense mechanism to family's such as "Portia" which feeds upon Pholcidae when given the chance.

The fast circular vibrations, along with the thin shape of its body makes it became a blur, of to predators, invisible.

The spider hangs in a messy, tangled web. Usually found in caves, under rocks and in a lot of cases, in dark corners of human inhabitance. There web has no adhesive properties, but the irregular design of there web traps insects, making it hard to escape. When trapped, the Pholcidae quickly sprays its pray with silk webbing, then inflicts the fatal bite.

Although fatal to insects, these spiders are harmless to humans due to the fact that there jaws arnt strong enough to penatrate human skin, and the venom dose is too small.

The mating process amongst the Pholcidaespiders involves using the palps and the jaws to insert sperm into the female.

The male increases its blood pressure within the palps so that sperm is pushed...