Subphylum Chelicerata (spiders, mites, scorpions, etc)

Chelicerates have six pairs of appendages, which are uniramous (unbranched). These include a
pair of chelicerae, a pair of pedipalps, and four pairs of walking legs. Chelicerates lack
mandibles and antennae. Respiration is by means of book gills, book lungs, or tracheae.
Classes
Class: Arachnida
Members include the spiders, horseshoe crab, scorpions and mites. It is a very large class of
mostly terrestrial arthropods, with the marine horseshoe crab being an exception. The general
characteristics are the absence of antennae and a body comprised of a cephalothorax and an
abdomen, the latter may appear as only a single part without divisions. The cephalothorax bears
four pairs of walking legs and 6-8 eyes raised on tubercules. The head appendages
include chelicerae, which are jaw like with claws and poison duct openings at their tips. The
basal portion of pedipalps serves both feeding and sensory functions.

Order Araneae includes the true spiders. Segmentation is obscure in the abdomen and there are
no obvious appendages except 3-4 pairs of spinnerets at the posterior end of the abdomen that are
modified abdominal appendages. Some examples of spiders are shown below.

i. Food & Digestion -- Insects and other small animals are caught in webs. The prey is
paralyzed and their liquid contents are moved up through the pharynx and
esophagus. A sucking stomach pumps food from the prey through the mouth and into the
digestive tract.
ii. Nine diverticulae from the intestine lead to various body parts. There is one located
forward and four on each side, which function to increase the surface area. The posterior
part of the intestine is surrounded by digestive glands and some food may actually enter
the glands. A rectal caecum occurs at the junction of the rectum and intestine.
iii. Circulation- The heart is long and located in the abdomen. The dorsal aorta in the
cephalothorax has subsequent branches to appendages and the brain and eye
regions. Some blood is pumped posteriorly to a short posterior aorta. The haemocoel is
divided into various sinuses. Blood reaches the book lungs and is aerated after which it
returns to the heart.
iv. Respiration- Air diffuses directly into the book lungs, as the blood does not carry
oxygen. Some tracheae may occur but they are never well developed.
v. Excretion- Malpighian tubules serve for excretion. Coxal glands that are modified
nephridia may also be involved in excretion.
vi. Nervous system- There is a typical pattern where a great concentration of ganglia occurs
in the anterior cephalothorax. Nerves run out to different parts of the body.
vii. Sensory organs- Eyes, pedipalps, and setae on the entire body perform sensory functions.
viii. Reproduction- The sexes are separate. Ducts open near the anterior end of the body, but
fertilization is internal.
ix. Males use pedipalps to transfer sperm from their genital pore to that of the female. Eggs
are laid in silken cocoons and maternal care is common. Development is direct.
x. Silk Glands- There are several varieties of silk glands. The silk they produce differs in
strength, slipperiness, etc. Different kinds of webbing are produced for particular
circumstances. The tips of the legs are modified for walking on the webs.

Spider silk is a protein fibre spun by spiders and used to make webs and/or other structures,
which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their
offspring, or to wrap up prey. Spiders also use their silk to suspend themselves, to float in air, or
to glide away from predators. Most spiders vary the thickness and stickiness of their silk for
different uses.
Silk is also intimately tied to courtship and mating. Silk produced by females provides a
transmission channel for male vibratory courtship signals, while webs and draglines provide a
substrate for female sex pheromones. Observations of male spiders producing silk during sexual
interactions are also common across phylogenetically widespread taxa.
Uses
All spiders produce silks, and a single spider can produce up to seven different types of silk for
different uses. This is in contrast to insect silks, where an individual usually only produces one
type of silk. Spider silks may be used in many different ecological ways, each with properties to
match the silk's function. As spiders have evolved, so has their silks' complexity and diverse
uses, for example from primitive tube webs 300–400 million years ago to complex orb webs 110
million years ago.

Use Example
Prey capture The orb webs produced by the Araneidae (typical orb-weavers); tube
webs; tangle webs; sheet webs; lace webs, dome webs; single thread used
by the Bolas spiders for "fishing".
Prey Silk used as "swathing bands" to wrap up prey. Often combined with
immobilisation immobilising prey using a venom. In species of Scytodes the silk is
combined with venom and squirted from the chelicerae.
Reproduction Male spiders may produce sperm webs; spider eggs are covered in silk
cocoons.
Dispersal Ballooning or kiting are used by smaller spiders to float through the air,
for instance for dispersal.
Source of food The kleptoparasitic Argyrodes spp. eat the silk of host spider webs. Some
daily weavers of temporary webs also eat their own unused silk daily,
thus mitigating a heavy metabolic expense.
Nest lining and Tube webs used by "primitive" spiders such as the European tube web
nest construction spider (Segestria florentina). Threads radiate out of nest to provide a
sensory link to the outside. Silk is a component of the lids of spiders that
use "trapdoors", such as members of the family Ctenizidae, and the
"water" or "diving bell" spider Argyroneta aquatica builds its diving bell
of silk.
Guide lines Some spiders that venture from shelter will leave a trail of silk by which
to find their way home again.
Drop lines and Many spiders, such as the Salticdae, that venture from shelter and leave a
anchor lines trail of silk, use that as an emergency line in case of falling from inverted
or vertical surfaces. Many others, even web dwellers, will deliberately
drop from a web when alarmed, using a silken thread as a drop line by
which they can return in due course. Some, such as species
of Paramystaria, also will hang from a drop line when feeding.
Alarm lines Some spiders that do not spin actual trap webs do lay out alarm webs that
the feet of their prey (such as ants) can disturb, cueing the spider to rush
out and secure the meal if it is small enough, or to avoid contact if the
intruder seems too formidable.
Pheromonal trails Some wandering spiders will leave a largely continuous trail of silk
impregnated with pheromones that the opposite sex can follow to find a
mate.

A female Argiope picta immobilizing prey by wrapping a curtain of aciniform silk around the
insect for later consumption
Meeting the specification for all these ecological uses requires different types of silk suited to
different broad properties, as either a fibre, a structure of fibres, or a silk-globule. These types
include glues and fibres. Some types of fibres are used for structural support, others for
constructing protective structures. Some can absorb energy effectively, whereas others transmit
vibration efficiently. In a spider, these silk types are produced in different glands; so the silk
from a particular gland can be linked to its use by the spider.

Gland Silk Use

Ampullate Dragline silk – used for the web's outer rim and spokes, also for the lifeline
(major) and for ballooning.
Ampullate Used for temporary scaffolding during web construction.
(minor)
Flagelliform Capture-spiral silk – used for the capturing lines of the web.
Tubuliform Egg cocoon silk – used for protective egg sacs.
Aciniform Used to wrap and secure freshly captured prey; used in the male sperm
webs; used in stabilimenta.
Aggregate A silk glue of sticky globules.
Piriform Used to form bonds between separate spider silk threads for attachment
points, and to maintain the structural stability of the web.
Note:
Biologically, flagelliform silk is used to construct capture spirals, which are sticky, robust, and
highly stretchable. The extreme elasticity of flagelliform silk is endowed by proline-rich
repetitive domain (GPGGX), which allows the absorption of a considerable amount of energy
without failure and ensures there is sufficient time for the aggregate to adhere to any aerial prey
flying into the web.
The flagelliform silk is also confirmed to play a vital role in collecting water from the
environment, due to its periodic spindle-knot and joint structure. The spindle-knot puffs are
composed of highly hydrophilic nanofibrils that are favorable to condensing water drops,
whereas joints made of oriented nanofibrils can directionally collect water drops around the
puffs. Hence, flagelliform silk-inspired artificial fibers have been successfully utilized for
collecting water from humid air.
Aciniform and cylindriform silk are mainly used for wrapping prey and/or building egg sacs.
Although the structure-property-function relationship for the entire sequence of these spider silks
is not fully explained, their attractive characteristics have inspired functional material designs.
Minor ampullate and cylindriform silks have been processed into an optical super-lens to resolve
sub-diffraction objects and patterns (approximately 100 nm).

Order: Opiliones (Phalangida) -- harvestmen: Their extremely long walking legs have earned
them the name of "Daddy Long Legs." The body regions are all compacted into a single
division. Most harvestmen are predatory on smaller invertebrates. Prey is captured with
modified, sometimes raptorial, pedipalps or chelicerae. Harvestmen do not use venom or silk to
capture and subdue their prey. Some harvestmen species are unusual in that they feed on
vegetation while others are known to feed of the carcasses of dead animals.

Order: Scorpiones (Scorpionida) -- scorpions: These animals have a well-marked

cephalothorax and segmented abdomen that is equipped with a sting and poison gland at the
posterior end. They can be dangerous in warmer regions. Chelicerae and pedipalps are both
chelate. They have book lungs. They feed on other arthropods. They are also viviparous as they
bear living young.
Order: Amblypygi. (Pedipalpia) -- whip spiders and tailless whip scorpions: There is a long
tail, large palps and small chelicerae.
Order: Pseudoscorpionida -- book scorpions: These are small animals that have the appearance
of scorpions because their pedipalps are pincers. The abdomen is rounded but without a
sting. They feed on small insects.

Order: Acarina -- mites and ticks: The chelicerae and pedipalps are modified into projections
called a hypostome. They are parasites and vectors of disease, and serious pests of vegetable and
tree crops.

Class Pycnogonida -- sea spiders: These are tiny marine animals. Included are parasites,
commensals and free-living predators.
Class: Merostomata
Order: Xiphosura -- horseshoe crab: The range is from the East Coast of North America to the
coasts of southeastern Asia. These animals have remained essentially unchanged sinde the
Paleozoic. They and the Pycnogonida are the only marine arachnids. They are also the only
Arachnida with compound eyes. The chelicerae are chelate and the pedipalps look like walking
legs. But there is four pair of true walking legs. The abdomen has well developed appendages
that have been modified into book gills.
Horseshoe crabs are of course a misnomer as they are not mollusks. Their blood, which is blue
in color, is high in metallic copper and is harvested regularly for medical research.