Despite the fact that today we are surrounded by millions of species of all kinds of insects, both large and completely invisible to the eye, many people have no idea how these insects actually look, that is, enlarged. For example, how many paws a spider has, children are not told either in kindergarten or at school, and in the future a person simply does not think about it. Therefore, the body structure of insects remains a mystery for many, and when you have to deal with some of the nuances of this kind, a stupor often begins. Well, now let's try to figure out how the spider looks, and what are the features of its many legs.
Brief Anatomical Theory
The answer to the question of how many paws a spider can have is only one: it has eight of them. This amount does not depend on the size of the insect, on its species or location. It is worth noting that often, looking at the image of a spider, many count as many as ten paws, however, these calculations are erroneous. It's just that people confuse pedipalps, which are located in the nose of an insect, with an extra pair of paws.
In fact, the spider uses these two limbs in order to rake in food, to look with the help of the receptors that are located on them, the safest way to move, as well as to control balance. But never such insects use pedipalps as auxiliary limbs for movement.
Why does a spider have so many legs?
If the information about how many paws a spider has is more or less familiar to many, then the actions that this insect performs with their help are not known to everyone. First, take a look at what exactly all four pairs of legs are, and then on the basis of this we will consider what opportunities the insect gives.
Spiders are arthropod creatures, therefore, all of their paws are some kind of tentacles. On them are all kinds of receptors of smell, touch and many others. Spider paws simultaneously perform the function of movement, hazard recognition, food search and weaving of the web. Arthropod parents with the help of their tentacles hold the cocoon, and if necessary transfer it to another place. That is why spiders are the owners of such a large number of legs, which at the same time serve them as arms, nose, eyesight and even the so-called “sixth sense”.
A spider without a paw is a full-fledged spider
Not so long ago, an experiment was conducted in France, which proved that arthropods, who lost one or two of their limbs, do not notice this loss. To do this, in one container, full-fledged insects were planted, in which all the paws were present. The other turned out to gather them, which for some reason lost one or two legs. As a result, weaving of the web, obtaining food, and other life cycles of arthropods in both containers performed the same.
The fact is that the back pair of legs of spiders is given as if in reserve. They use them if they lose their front tentacles. By the way, this phenomenon in nature is too common, so you can easily find in your country house a spider that will be the owner of only seven or even six limbs.
The longer the paws, the worse the spider. Is it so?
Most of us have encountered insects such as spiders with long legs, which are gray in color and move very, very quickly. They frighten someone to horror, for someone they seem like specks of dust that can easily be blown away. However, few people know that these arthropods are not spiders at all.
In science, they are called "hayfields", and in the people they simply call "false science". Recognizing the haymaker and distinguishing it from a spider is very simple. The first have a dissected abdomen, which almost completely merges with the cephalothorax. Spiders have a holistic tummy, which is connected to the head by a thin membrane.
