Common Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in the Wichita Mountains and Surrounding Areas
Common Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in the Wichita Mountains and Surrounding Areas Angel A. Chiri Entomologist and abdomen) and does not include legs. Introduction Although this guide is primarily for spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, ticks, and sun spiders are Spiders belong in the Phylum Arthropoda, Class briefly mentioned. Arachnida, Order Araneae. These common arachnids are found in grasslands, forests, orchards, cultivated fields, backyards, gardens, empty lots, parks, and homes. There are some 570 genera and 3,700 species of spiders in North America, north of Mexico. According to an Oklahoma State University checklist at least some 187 genera and 432 species were recorded in the state. Cokendolpher and Bryce (1980) examined arachnid specimens collected at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge by various groups between 1926 and 1978. Their work yielded a total of 182 arachnid species, of which 170 were spiders. Figure 1. Texas brown tarantula, Aphonopelma hentzi, male Many spiders are common and distinctive, often seen resting on their webs or crawling on the Summary of Structure and Function ground during the warmer months. The larger orb-weavers, for instance, are readily noticed in Being arthropods, spiders have a rigid external late summer and early fall because of their size skeleton, or exoskeleton, and jointed legs. The and conspicuousness. Others are uncommon or spider body consists of two segments, the seldom seen because of their secretive habits or cephalothorax (anterior segment) and the small size. For instance, some spiders that live abdomen (posterior segment), joined by a short, in leaf litter are minute, cryptic, and seldom thin, flexible pedicel. The dorsal part of the noticed without the use of special collecting cephalothorax is the carapace.
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