(spider patch, around Parson’s pond, along boardwalk) Yellow & Black Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia)

Q: What well-known cartoon character looks like s/he is hanging out on the back of this spider?

A: Marge Simpson (or one of those weird Gary Larson women)

Yellow & Black Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia)

Q: Where would you find the male spider?

A: The male is much smaller than the female and can often be found hanging out around the edge of the female’s web. One of the big jobs a male spider has is letting the female know that he is not food. Some males puck special tunes on the web, some males wait until the female has just molted – so her fangs are still soft. Some males throw some silk around the female and bind her up. Spider sex is a wild and wooly proposition! Yellow & Black Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia)

Q: What is that zig-zaggy thing down the middle of the web???

A: It’s called a stabilimentum. It was given this name because it was thought to provide stability. It doesn’t. It may act as camouflage. (It is always built by spiders that sit in the middle of their webs.) It may also reflect uv light and warn birds not to fly into the web. The uv light may actually attract insect prey. (We don’t really know – which is cool!)

Yellow & Black Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia)

Q: What does the egg sac of this spider look like? And how many eggs does it hold?

A: The egg sac is a beautiful pear-shaped structure. It is her magnum opus. She dies not too long after its construction. (She may actually produce from 1 to 3 sacs, most often 1.) Each sac contains 300-1400 eggs! Yellow & Black Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) Q: How does A. aurantia make her egg sac? A: She constructs her egg sac hanging downwards in her web. First she builds a scaffold, followed by a rectangular roof on which she spins a thick tuft of fluffy silk. Into this silk bed she spins a firmer sheet of silk and lays her eggs upwards against it. The she spins a fluffy covering and over this a padded finer covering of silk that hardens and turns a brownish color. (To summarize: 6 different sheets, tufts or covers, making three envelopes!).

(spider patch, around Parson’s pond, along boardwalk) Silver-banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata)

Q: These spiders often hang with their “belly” side visible (as opposed to their “back”). What is the circular looking structure in the middle part of their abdomen?

A: Her spinnerets! These are the structures that produce silk. Many orb weavers produce up to 7 kinds of spider silk. Spinnerets are actually made up of hundreds to thousands of tiny silk-producing spigots. Silver-banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata)

Q: Why do these spiders seem to suddenly appear in autumn? Where have they been the rest of the year?

A: They’ve actually been around since the spring – only smaller and lower down in the vegetation. In fall, they (especially the females) grow larger, reproductively active, prepare to make their egg cases, and die. This is one strategy for getting through the hard times. Make a waterproof egg case. Stick the next generation in it (pass your genes on) and exit the scene. Silver-banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata)

Q: How can you tell a silver-banded egg sac from a yellow & black garden spider egg sac?

A: Silver-banded garden spiders make egg sacs with flat tops, whereas yellow & black garden spiders make egg sacs that are pear shaped.

Í silver-banded

yellow & black Î

(spider patch, around Parson’s pond, in coyote bush in Garden Club Canyon) Pumpkin Spider (Araneus trifolium)

Q: Look at the orb web of this spider. Is it hanging straight up & down with respect to the ground – or is it oriented at an angle?

A: An angle. …. Why might this be?

What if the spider had to drop suddenly to avoid a predator, or to capture an insect? She doesn’t want to get stuck in her own web – so she orients the web at an angle to ground. The angle also comes in handy when she cleans her web. Pumpkin Spider (Araneus trifolium)

Q: Why is it important to look for the web of this spider and not the spider herself?

A: She is often in a retreat off to the side of her web. You can always find the retreat by looking for a strand of silk the leaves the center of the web and goes off to what often looks like a clump of leaves. She hangs out in her retreat with one of her legs on this signal line.

Tip: Use a mirror to show the kids the spider. Pumpkin Spider (Araneus trifolium)

Q: What’s the deal with those white spots?

A: They are actually nitrogenous waste that collects. When the spider molts, these white spots disappear. The pumpkin spiders in the same area can have a lot of pattern variation on their abdomen.

Pumpkin Spider (Araneus trifolium)

Q: As autumn progresses, why does it seem that we see more and more webs that looked like they’re not being maintained?

A: The spider is putting more and more of her energy into egg production. When the cost of web repair is no longer worth the energy taken away from reproduction, the web is shut down. If you are REALLY LUCKY you will see a spider with a deflated abdomen preparing her egg sac (usually in lower vegetation).

(spider patch, boardwalk, in trailside vegetation) Debris Spider (Cyclosa conica)

Q: People often get confused between the debris spider and the condo (or labyrinth) spider. What’s the difference?

A: The debris spider has a single orb web with a string of debris down the center (this is also a stabilimentum like the zigzag in the garden spider webs). The debris spider hangs out in the middle of this string of debris. The condo spider has a messy-looking web and a perfect orb web. It’s retreat is in the middle of the messy portion of the web made of leaves and bits of vegetation. Debris Spider (Cyclosa conica)

Q: What does the debris spider use to make its “string of debris” or stabilimentum?

A: The debris consists of plant material, as well as dry prey items. When she is ready to lay eggs they are added to the line of debris.

Debris Spider (Cyclosa conica)

Q: What does the debris spider actually look like?

A: There are actually 4 species of debris spider (Cyclosa) in the bay area. BLP’s most common one is Cyclosa conica, named for the cone-like projection on the end of its abdomen. I teased one to the top of her web to get a photo.

(Spider patch, edges of Parson’s Pond, ceanothus & coyote bush in Garden Club Canyon)

Labyrinth (Condo) Spider (Metepiera sp.)

Q: Where in all of this silk can one find the spider?

A: Look in the messy portion of the web. There will be a tangle of leaves and junk. This is where the spider builds her retreat. The spider sits hidden in her retreat with a line to the orb hub to sense prey. The retreat is usually made of a leaf rolled conically, open end down. It is usually possible to view her with a mirror. Labyrinth (Condo) Spider (Metepiera sp.) Q: We can see the egg sacs of the garden spiders, what do the egg sacs of condo spiders look like?

A: Condo spiders enclose their eggs in lenticular (shape of a double convex lens) sacs. The first egg sac is formed near the entrance of the retreat and the others are placed successively in a line below it and fastened to a strong cord of silk. There are usually 5-6 sacs with about 30 eggs in each. The cord supporting the egg sac is stretched between two branches and is strengthened with additional draglines. Egg sacs can survive winter storms and will be held securely in place after all traces of the web have disappeared. (Although some accounts say that the young spider hatchlings use the messy web portion as a nursery.) Labyrinth (Condo) Spider (Metepiera sp.)

Q: Often we see many of these spiders in close proximity in the same bush. What is this about?

A: We don’t really know! There’s some debate that condo spiders might be semi-colonial. Large Ceanothus bushes may sport as many as twenty labyrinth webs, each branch opening supporting one or more spiders. (If you drive to the preserve through the Olema Valley on a misty morning, you can see many, many webs. I stopped counting at 100 one morning – only because I was going to be late for an appointment.)

This is a good question to ask the kids. See if they can come up with a hypothesis. Talk to them about the scientific process!

(along trail banks and road cuts: up Griffin trail from Sheerin Bridge; on way to Garden Club Canyon) Trapdoor Spider (Bothriocyrtum californicum)

Q: What is proper trapdoor spider etiquette?

A: Use a very small twig to lift the door. Anything heavy has a higher chance of damaging the door. I recommend letting the children watch as YOU lift the door. Have them look for other trapdoors on the bank. When they think they’ve found one, have them point it out and YOU lift it. In areas that are used often, we usually try to designate one or two trapdoors that are used and save the rest of them from disturbance.

Trapdoor Spider (Bothriocyrtum californicum)

Q: If trapdoor spiders live in burrows, how do they find each other when they want to mate?

A: The female trapdoor spider may spend her entire life in the same burrow, enlarging it as she grows. When the male is of reproductive age, he leaves his burrow in search of a gal. He is guided by a pheromone (a special chemical attractant) that the female releases and by the distinguishing pattern of silk around her burrow. Once he has mated, he is not long for the world. Trapdoor Spider (Bothriocyrtum californicum) Q: How do trapdoor spiders make their burrows (1)? A: Trapdoor spiders have spines (rastella) on the sides of their chelicerae (the mouthparts where you find their fangs). The spider uses these spines like a digging rake to loosen and move earth. She also uses her fangs and the muscles at the base of her fangs. Once there is enough loose dirt in the burrow for removal, the spider will spin some silk around it and haul it out of the nest (another amazing use of spider silk!).

Trapdoor Spider (Bothriocyrtum californicum) Q: How do trapdoor spiders make their burrows (2)?

A: The trapdoor itself is note the “cork” wedge the spider has constructed in a silk cork or wafer that this cut-away the spider covers with dirt and other bits and pieces from the surrounding environs. Once the burrow is finished, the spider will use saliva to line the nest with mud in order to strengthen it. Last, but not least, she lines it with silk. Trapdoor Spider (Bothriocyrtum californicum)

Q: Where does the female make her egg sac and what happens to the kids?

A: The eggs are laid in the burrow, in a cocoon attached to the silk lining. Hatchlings look like miniature versions of their mother and stay with her for several weeks. When you find a trapdoor, look around. You will often see other trapdoors in a female in burrow with spiderlings range of sizes. The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.

(Harwell Nature Trail, Zumie & Griffin Loop in the Doug fir forest, and on the Olive Hyde Trail on the slope of Volunteer Canyon) Turret Spider (Atypoides riversi)

Q: How often do these spiders need to eat?

A: As often as they can … AND they can wait six months without eating. They may even shed their skin to get smaller if need be! Turret Spider (Atypoides riversi)

Q: What’s the deal with the turrets?

A: Turrets are stiffened silk connected to a long silk- lined burrow in which the spider lives. Douglas fir needles, dirt, leaves, and twigs are incorporated into the turret and act as trip-lines. At dusk, the spider sits at the edge awaiting victims.

Turret Spider (Atypoides riversi) Q: When you find a large-ish turret, you very often see a bunch of smaller ones around it. What’s this about?

A. As with the trapdoor spiders, very often the offspring don’t stray too far from home. Some pretty cool population studies have been done with turret spiders.

Turret Spider (Atypoides riversi)

Q: What do these spiders look like?

A: They are mygalomorph (?!) spiders that look a little like tarantulas. They have thick bodies and small eyes.

Calisoga longitarsus (false tarantula) burrow (Bourne Trail portion of Griffin Loop, Olive Hyde Trail on Picher Canyon side) False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsus)

Q: What do these spiders look like?

A: They’re large and “tarantula-like” though not as large as the real tarantulas we are familiar with. In the fall, I often get calls from people that find large spiders in their bathrooms or around their house. The males of this species go on walk-about in the fall searching for females and it is usually this spider that people are asking about. False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsus)

Q: Where can we find Calisoga burrows?

A: Look in the middle of trails and trail margins, especially on the Griffin trail across the Sheerin Bridge and the first part of trail to Volunteer Canyon. I’ve also seen them on the trail past the spider patch on the way under the heronry. In the fall, after the first rains, they’re easier to spot. Look for little piles of dirt and a white glob next to an almost perfectly round hole about the size of a nickel. The white glob is the remains of last year’s egg sac. If you tease it open and have a hand lens you can see the shed exoskeletons of the tiny spiderlings who undergo their first molt while still in the sac! False Tarantula (Calisoga longitarsus) Q: If you happen to come across one of these spiders and see it rear up, what is it doing?

A: False tarantulas (and real ones) along with our turret spiders and trapdoor spiders are all part of a major grouping called mygalomorph spiders. These spiders are considered to be more primitive. Their fangs only move up and down instead of side-to- side. So … they need to rear up and come down on their prey. Fangs of araneomorph spiders (orb weavers, sheetweb, wolf, jumping, etc.) are able to move side to side, so it’s possible for them to “bite” their victims from just about any position. edges of Parson’s Pond, wet grass, trail margins Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae)

Q: Do these spiders make webs?

A: No. They are hunting spiders. One often sees them running in the grass, especially in moist areas and near ponds and streams. They run just as well on the surface film of water! This is the cheetah of the spider world, running down prey by speed, rather than stealth.

Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae)

Q: What is distinctive about these spiders.

A. Look at their eyes!

Since they chase down prey, they need good eyes. If your mother was a wolf spider, she really would (almost) have eyes in the back of her head –at least on the side – and on top!

Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae)

Q: How do they find each other when it’s time to make babies?

A: A female will trail a pheromone-laden dragline behind her to lead male wolf spiders in the right direction. When a male “smells” her pheromones with his palps, he follows the dragline to the female. As he approaches, he will begin a courtship song and dance - waving his palps, raising and lowering his front legs, and vibrating his abdomen. In some species the males also vibrate their legs. These vibrations elicit a response in kind from a receptive female who responds with leg vibrations of her own. Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae) Q: Sometimes when you see spiders scurrying on the ground it looks like they have 3 body parts. What’s this about?

A: You might actually be it for hours and even accept substitutes watching a wolf spider (paper balls, snailshells…). carrying her egg sac. She wraps the egg sac with bluish-green threads and attaches it to her spinnerets. She carries the sac around until the spiderlings hatch. If one tries to take the egg case away, she will vehemently defend it. If it is taken, she will search for Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae) Q: What happens with wolf spider spiderlings after they hatch?

A: Mom assists during “hatching” by opening the rim of the cocoon. The sac is too tough for the spiderlings to tear their way out on their own. The newly emerged spiderlings climb on mom’s back and hold fast to her abdominal hairs for 7 or 8 days. They live from their yolk supply and mom doesn’t eat during brood care. There may be as many as 100 tiny spiderlings resting on top of each other on top of mom!

(in and around buildings, boardwalks, ranch yard, trail margins; bushes; gardens) Jumping Spiders (Family Salticidae)

Q: Do they actually jump?

A: YES! They raise their front legs in preparation and thrust with their hind legs. Just before jumping, a spider will fasten a safety net to the substrate. Then it pulls its legs close to the body – et voila. If wolf spiders are the cheetahs of the spider world then jumping spiders are the leopards. With eyes so large they can resolve an image up to a foot away; jumping spiders stalk prey, then jump 10-20 times their body length to capture it! Jumping Spiders (Family Salticidae)

Q: With such big eyes, does their courtship ritual involve visual cues?

A: Yes. In fact they have some fairly elaborate courtship maneuvers. The cute spider on the front of this card (Phiddipus johnsoni) will use both visual and chemotactile methods to court a female. If a male comes across a nest where the female is hidden, he’ll rub his front legs over the surface of the nest while his body oscillates up and down. If he sees her, he will approach her in a zigzagging dance, raising his legs, twitching his abdomen, and vibrating his palps. (The spider to the left is not P. johnsoni.) Jumping Spiders (Family Salticidae)

Q: Do male jumping spiders ever face-off?

A: Yes. However, threatening behavior is almost as ritualized as mating behavior (fighting rarely occurs). In more primitive jumping spiders, courtship and defense movements are the same. One thing that I used to do with a little jumping spider that lived on my porch for several months was to bring a small mirror outside and hold it up. I could elicit defensive behavior by showing the spider his own reflection!

(flowers and in vegetation)

Crab Spiders (Family Thomisidae)

Q: Why are they called crab spiders?

A: Look at them! They have long front legs and are able to move sideways, frontward, and backwards, like a crab. With the small back legs the spider holds itself steady. The front legs, which are held outwards, are more powerful, and grab unsuspecting flower visitors with amazing speed, while administering a poisonous bite. Prey is mostly eaten on the flower and is sucked dry through tiny holes, leaving behind an almost complete exoskeleton. Crab Spiders (Family Thomisidae) Q: Why do we often find these spiders in or around flowers?

A: They’re sit-and-wait predators. They camouflage themselves to blend in with their background. When a pollinator or other visitor comes to the flower … wham! … It’s spider food. Some female crab spiders are even able to change color. New information shows us that bees PREFER flowers with crab spiders in them. It’s thought that this is a result of crab spiders reflecting UV light in a range desirable to the bees!! (There are even some crab spiders (not at BLP) that disguise themselves as perfect imitations of bird poop (smell and look) with a white blobby web underneath them. Bird dung spiders prey on the flies that feed on bird poop) in vegetation all around the preserve Bowl and Doily Spider (Frontinella pyramitela)

Q: How does this web work??

A: The snare consists of a cuplike structure (bowl) above a sheetweb (doily). The spider sits on the underside of the cup. Small flying and crawling insects get caught in the many trap lines constructed above and around the bowl and tumble in at which point the spider bites them from below and pulls them through the web. The Bowl and Doily Spider then wraps its prey in silk and saves it for when it wants to eat. Bowl and Doily Spider (Frontinella pyramiitela)

Q: Are there any “web parasites” in the spider world, like there are “nest parasites” in the bird world?

A: Funny you should ask! Yes. Argyrodes trigonum is a kleptoparasite of bowl & doily spiders that feeds on their food – and, as been recently shown, occasionally them. In summer months, A. trigonum may inhabit up to 20% of bowl and doily webs, where it has caused death or departure of its host.

Bowl and Doily Spider (Frontinella pyramiitela)

Q: Does the fact that the bowl and doily spider has a kleptoparasite elicit any behavior?

A: Bowl and doily females will actually allow males to use their webs to capture prey. It is thought that the function of this permissiveness may be to deflect (onto the males) the risk of being captured.

(Bowl and doily spiders also go through what is termed pseudocopulation. The male will get close enough to determine whether or not the female is a virgin. If she is – he stays, if not – he’s out of there.) in redwoods under heronry; along trail margins (small spider, hard to see) Triangle Spider (Hyptiotes sp.)

Q: Where’s the rest of the web??

A: Triangle spiders are not in the orb weaver family (Araneidae). (They’re in the Uloboridae family.) Though they spin webs that look like someone cut a pie out of an orb web – it’s different from “orb weaver” webs in several major ways: 1. The spider is actually part of her web! 2. The web contains no sticky silk. Triangle spiders are cribellate spiders; meaning they produce a special kind of silk that is very wooly and has electrostatic features to help it cling to prey. Triangle Spider (Hyptiotes sp.)

Q: What do you MEAN the spider is part of her web?

A: The spider attaches a thread to some solid object and a tension thread to the apex of the web. She is a living part of her web! She holds on at the point of attachment taking up slack and creating tension. When a prey item of the appropriate size stumbles into her web, the tension in the attachment line is released by the spider causing the web to collapse on her victim.

Triangle Spider (Hyptiotes sp.)

Q: Is there anything else about the triangle spider that is different from our better known orb weavers?

A: The triangle spider is a member of the only family of spiders known to lack venom glands.

Zygiella Web

colors show path of construction

Missing Triangle Spider (Zygiella sp.)

Q: What is the “missing” part of the web all about?

A: Zygiella constructs her retreat at the peak of the “missing” part of her web. It’s easy to find the spider if you look closely because she has a signal line attached from her retreat to the center through the “missing” portion of her web.

In case you were red (final part of) exploration phase wondering about the colors yellow construction of radii on the other side… white construction of auxiliary spiral blue construction of sticky spiral Missing Triangle Spider (Zygiella sp.) Q: What would happen if you gave a spider – say Zygiella – caffeine and then had her spin her web?

Missing Triangle Spider (Zygiella sp.)

Q: Where can you find the missing triangle spider at BLP?

A: Look on the railings in front of the staff room and around buildings. Zygiella is an introduced spider (from Europe) and does will around human habitation.

lacey webs that appear all over BLP buildings Badumna sp. Q: When you touch these webs they’re sticky in a different way than orb weavers? What causes this? A: Badumna (introduced from Australia) is a cribellate spider. It has a specialized spinneret called – what else – a cribellum. The cribellum can have up to 40,000 spigots producing silk thread about 0.00001 mm thick which is combed with special hairs on the hind legs (like carding wool) to produce fluffy, wooly silk (hacklebands) with electrostatic properties.

Í cribellum

EM shot of cribellate silk Î

Badumna sp.

Q: What other spiders that we see are cribellate spiders?

A: triangle spiders, black widows, false widows

(in houses, around buildings, in pond cabinet, fire hose cabinets, etc.) Cellar Spider (Family Pholcidae)

Q: How can these spiders be distinguished from the common house spiders or cobweb spinners?

A: They can be distinguished from house spiders by two behaviors: they carry their whitish egg cases in their jaws, and they do such rapid pushups when disturbed that they appear to vibrate in circles in their web.

Cellar Spider (Family Pholcidae)

Q: These spiders are called sometimes called daddy long legs. Aren’t there other things called daddy longlegs too?

A: Yup. Daddy longlegs “officially” refers to a group of spider-like critters called Opiliones. Opiliones also have eight legs BUT they have only one distinguishable body part. We see them in the soil, under logs, in the and around the fire hose cabinets and other places.

Black Widow House Spider

Family Theriidae = Comb-footed Spiders

(fire hose cabinets, electrical cabinets) False Widow

Comb-footed Spiders (black widows, false widows, house spiders)

Q: The web looks like a messy tangle. Is there a particular name for it?

A: These webs are officially cobwebs! They are a remarkable tangle, with a number of taught vertical lines to the ground or surrounding subtrate. Prey is snared when they bump the loosely attached taught-lines and are whipped up into the tangle! (There is a great tale of an arachnologist watching a house spider subdue a mouse: at 2pm silk was thrown around tail; by 4 pm the mouse could barely touch the floor; by 9 pm the mouse was 1 ½ inches above the ground; by the next morning, the mouse was dead.) Comb-footed Spiders (black widows, false widows, house spiders)

Q: What type of toxin does the black widow have?

A: The toxin is a neurotoxin. It causes pain throughout the body, nausea, dizziness, sweating, muscle spasms. The anti-venoms are good. General Spider General Spider

Q: How can you tell a male spider from a female spider?

A: The male spider has swollen pedipalps (sometimes called palps) that make him look like he is wearing little boxing gloves.

Spider External Insect External Anatomy Anatomy General Spider

Q: What external features can you see that lets you know a critter is a spider and not an insect?

A: Spider Insect 2 body parts (cephalothorax & 3 body parts (head, thorax, & abdomen) abdomen) No antennae Antennae Never has wings Often has wings

colorized EM shot of silk coming out of spinneret nozzles Spinnerets Q: How does a spider make silk?

A: They have structures called spinnerets. Silk comes out from tiny nozzles as a liquid. Tension causes it to solidify. It is one of the strongest lightweight substances known. Spider silk is 5 times stronger than steel and about 3 times tougher than Kevlar. According to the folks that have tried to raise spiders for silk, it’s like trying to farm tigers. Think about it. So, the US Army and a Canadian firm have figured out how to insert the silk producing genes from spiders in goats and, voila, the goat milk contains spider silk.

scanning em of aciniform gland schematic of orb weaver spinnerets

(look at picture on silver-banded garden spider card) Spider Silk Q: Do all spiders make the same kind of silk? A: No … and each individual spider is capable of making more than one kind of silk. 1. Aciniform glands: silk for wrapping prey 2. Cylindrical (tubuliform) glands: silk for wrapping eggs. 3. Ampullate glands: non-sticky silk for draglines or to form the frames of their webs 4. Piriform glands: silk made into attachment disks at the bottom of web suspension lines. 5. Aggregate glands work like a glue gun, producing sticky droplets, which regularly dot the silk to trap prey. 6. Lobed glands: wrapping silk (only in Theriididae) 7. Cribellar glands: fluffy woolly silk that is very fine and combed into a single strand. (very stretchy and good for catching flying insects because i insect bounces back to the web like on a horizontal bungy jump.

General Spider

Are all those little spider bodies we find around our houses and inside the pond shed and around spider webs dead spiders?

See the other side of this card! Molting Q: How does a spider grow? A: Spiders have an external skeleton which they need to shed in order to grow.

How does an orb weaver spin a web?

“Take a deep breath!” said Charlotte, smiling. Wilbur breathed deeply. “Now climb to the highest place you can get to, like this.” Charlotte raced up to the top of the doorway. Wilbur scrambled to the top of the manure pile. “Very good!” said Charlotte. “Now make an attachment with your spinnerets, hurl yourself into space, and let out a dragline as you go down!” Wilbur hesitate a moment, then jumped out into the air. He glanced hastily behind to see if a piece of rope was following him to check his fall, but nothing seemed to be happening in his rear, and the next thing he knew he landed with a thump. “Ooomp!” he grunted.

~~~~~ As it turned out, Wilbur lacked, according to Charlotte, two things needed to make a web “A set of spinnerets and know-how.”

General Spider

Q: What are some of the ways we can distinguish between families of spiders?

A: One way is the eyes. Look at the eyes – the size and placement. Who below makes their living by actively running around and looking for prey? Who might depend more on sensing web vibrations?