Environmental Graffiti

Environmental Graffiti Will be Changing Dramatically Soon. Get a Sneak Preview By Signing Up Here.

Image: Thomas Shahan

As if spiders weren’t strange enough creatures with their eight legs and eight eyes, some seem to have even donned a fur coat that would put any grizzly bear to shame. We’re not quite sure the creatures we are about to present are spiders at all as they look like they’ve come from outer space. It doesn’t matter that many of them are not even an inch tall – macro photography makes them look like alien giants. But see for yourself.

When distinguishing spiders, one prominent question is – how many eyes do they have, are they all the same size, and in how many rows are they arranged? The question of whether they’re hairy or not does not concern us today – we’re going to look only at hairy critters.

1. Orb-weaver Spiders

Orb-weaver spiders belong to the family of the Araneidae and are named after their wheel-shaped webs. With 2,800 species, it is the third largest family of spiders. Orb weavers have eight similar eyes (yup, that’s right – eight!) and eight legs that are often hairy or spiny.

A very hairy orb weaver in action:

Image: Audrey

The spider below belongs to the family of Eriophora heroine or Eriophora pustuosa, commonly found throughout the Americas, Australasia and Africa.

Time for a shave…

Image: Noodle snacks

… and a leg wax:

Image: aussiegall

2. Wolf Spiders

Wolf spiders belong to the family of Lycosidae and are known for their good eyesight and their hunting abilities. Some pounce on their prey and even chase it over short distances while other species prefer their prey to come to them. Common to all and in contrast to other spider families that we will see, the wolf spider’s colouration is drab as it relies on camouflage.

A wolf spider in definite need of a trim:

Image: Michael Wifall

This one’s displaying all its hairiness:

Image: Mike Keeling

Though usually harmless to humans, wolf spiders do release venom if provoked. Their bites may cause swelling, itching or other discomfort.

Female wolf spider:

Image: spilopterus

A somewhat startled wolf spider:

Image: Paul Sapiano

3. Peacock Spiders

The Peacock or Gliding spiders (Maratus volans) are tiny spiders (only 4 or 5 mm long) native to Australia’s Queensland and New South Wales. As drab as the females and young spiders may look in their brownish coat, the more do the adult males make up for it in colour: Their head and leg part is dark brown or black with red and grey stripes while the abdomen shows a rainbow-coloured pattern in orange, green, blue and yellow.

Not sure why they’re called peacock spiders?

Image: Jürgen Otto

But that’s not all. The male has two skin flaps attached to the abdomen that hang down, somewhat like a cape, when not in use. During the courtship dance, males fold these colourful flaps up and display them like a peacock does its feathers. They also dance from side to side to impress the females. After successful mating with one, they start over with their dance, hoping to get lucky again.

That’s why – the males flaunt their colourful bums like a peacock does its feathers:

Image: Jürgen Otto

It was initially assumed that the flaps were used for flying (therefore the species’ name – volans) but that is a myth that has been debunked by the Australasian Arachnological Society.

4. Tarantulas

Tarantulas are probably the best known hairy spiders, to no little extent because of mainstream movies exploiting them whenever arachnophobia is called upon. Well, their hunting behaviour, eight hairy legs with claws at the end and two prominent fangs do make them look quite outlandish; look at this Asian bird-eater from the Haplopelma genus for example:

Look at those fangs and the red mouth!

Image: Matt Reinbold

Says Matt about his attempts to click Petunia, the spider:

“I was trying to photograph Petunia, but she kept attacking the camera (seriously!), so most shots didn’t turn out. … You should have seen me trying to get her from her enclosure to the shooting area. I tried to shoo her into a cup, but when you tap her back end to make her go forward, she instead turns around to attack what’s tapping her.”

A Pterinochilus murinus female called Charm – reminding us of an orangutan:

Image: Matt Reinbold

In case you were wondering, the tarantula’s hairs, called scopula, help it get a better grip when climbing smooth surfaces, glass for example. New-world tarantulas have urticating hairs on their abdomen as a defense mechanism. They are meant to irritate sensitive areas of an enemy’s body like the nose and can even detach.

A Huntsman tarantula, clinging on, waiting:

Image: Rob & Stephanie Levy

Tarantulas belong to the family of Theraposidae, of which around 900 species have been identified so far. Thinking back to our first tarantula image, we found it interesting that the tarantula’s mouth can only suck, not chew, meaning that anything going inside must be fluid. That doesn’t mean the spider’s on a liquid diet – oh no! Prey with, er, solid parts like lizards, mice and even birds will be crushed, ground up or predigested, “accomplished by coating the prey with digestive juices that are secreted from openings in the chelicerae.” We thought you might want to know.

5. Jumping Spiders

Last but not least, our favourites – jumping spiders! These little critters are colourful, cute and their distinct eye pattern really makes them seem out of this world. Jumping spiders belong to the Salticidae family, the largest of all with over 5,000 species. They are named after their transportation style that consists of jumping from place to place, secured with a silk thread. Jumping spiders can jump 20 to even 80 times the length of their own body.

A female Phidippus audax – Take me to your leader – oh, wait, I am your leader:

Image: Thomas Shahan

And a full view of the hairy beauty:

Image: Thomas Shahan

Not quite the same group, but close – a male Phidippus mystaceus:

Image: Thomas Shahan

Like the tarantula, they can climb up almost impossibly slippery surfaces like glass because of the scopula, hundreds of tiny hairs at the end of each leg, which split into hundreds more, thus creating thousands of tiny feet.

Eye can see you – male Hentzia palmarum:

Image: Thomas Shahan

A male Hentzia mitrata:

Image: Thomas Shahan

That we’re able to show more images of jumping spiders than any other spider family is no coincidence – jumping spiders are said to be the most curious of all. If faced with an unknown object like a hand, they will not scuttle to safety like other spiders but come closer to check it out. Good for us!

A somewhat grandfatherly looking male Habronatus coecatus:

Image: Thomas Shahan

Look into my eyes, baby – super macro of a male Paraphidippus aurantius:

Image: Thomas Shahan

And in the end, for those who really can’t get enough of these alien guys, here’s a video of the sad demise of the Paraphidippus aurantius above. After devouring a cricket, a stronger and bigger female spotted and killed him. Says photographer Thomas Shahan: “The female found and killed the male without any help from me – she was bigger, quicker, and apparently stronger than the male and seemed to have no trouble getting him.”

Such is life! Even alien-looking, hairy spiders are not immortal – yet?

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

If you want to find out all the latest news on the environment, why not subscribe to our RSS feed? We’ll even throw in a free album.