Spiders and their relatives
A spider is not an insect.
Spiders belong to a group of animals called arachnids.
Arachnids have eight legs, and do not have antennae.
Their bodies have two main parts.
Spider
head and thorax
joined together
abdomen
spider’s fangs
contain poison
for killing prey
spinneret for
spinning silk
thread
leg
Spiders trap prey using a silk thread which they spin themselves. Many
kinds of spider use the thread to spin a web to catch their prey.
Relatives of spiders
scorpion
harvestman
tick
A scorpion has a powerful sting at the end of its tail. A
harvestman is also called a daddy longlegs. A tick is a parasite
that lives on other animals.
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