With between 4 and 6 million species, insects are the most common animals on Earth. They populate almost every habitat from Antarctica to deserts, rain forests, lakes, mountain tops, glacier snow, and deep underground. A few live in the ocean.
Where there are insects, spiders feed on them. Ranging in size from just a few hundredths of an inch to giants with leg spans near thirteen inches, spiders are the ultimate insect hunters: stalking or building webs to catch them.
Animals with jointed legs are arthropods. Of these, only the insects have wings to fly, but air travel is an important method of dispersal used by other arthropods.
Suite101 articles bring new information on insects, spiders, and other invertebrates. Please comment on the articles and share stories of invertebrates on my blogs.
Prior to the Pleistocene, animals had little need to migrate. Glaciation events and concurrent droughts forced insects (and others) to develop seasonal movements. more...
Web Manipulation Explains Spider Behavior
In: Spiders
Hungry spiders build webs with sticky fibers while sated spiders remove these insect traps. An elegant experiment demonstrates the value of this manipulation. more...
One Spider's Method to Prevent Overeating
Some spider brains are hard wired to kill and eat prey when it is captured. Replacing sticky threads with non-sticky ones prevents overindulgence. more...
Matricide and Infanticide in a Spider
In: Spiders
Some baby spiders eat their mothers and second mates kill eggs of former mates. These behaviors carry severe penalties for the female while the babies and males benefit. more...
In: Spiders
Having lost their poison glands, uloborid spiders wrap their living prey in a silk cocoon that smothers and sometimes crushes the prey to death. more...
Neurology of Insect Migration and Navigation
Genetically wired into insect brains are seasonal clocks, innate compasses, and maps that help these tiny long-distance migrants travel. more...
Newfound Understanding of Insect Migration
Migrating insects return to the same wintering locations while they fuel, rest, and use routes and flight patterns that are similar to those used by birds. more...
A Fantastic Dragonfly Migration
Dragonflies leave India, fly across the Indian Ocean to Africa with the assistance of storms, and their great grandchildren may make the return journey to India. more...
All feature articles in Insects/Spiders
All contributors in Insects/Spiders
In: Crawling Insects
By: Cyrus Dehkan
Endosymbiosis in Aphids and Other Insects
By:
Wendy Anne Makhdum Prosser
In: Flying Insects
By: Jessica Ferguson
In: Flying Insects
By: Jessica Ferguson
Fun, Interesting Facts About Insects and Bugs
All contributing articles in Insects/Spiders