Arachnids are a class (Arachnida) of chelicerate arthropods studied across zoology, ecology, and evolutionary biology as a diverse group that includes spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, harvestmen, and related lineages. Research on arachnids focuses on their morphological specializations (e.g., chelicerae, pedipalps, spinnerets in spiders, pectines in scorpions), respiratory structures (book lungs, tracheae), and reproductive and developmental strategies. They serve as key models in venom biochemistry, neurobiology, sensory ecology, and biomechanics, and several groups (notably ticks and mites) are of major importance in medical and agricultural entomology as vectors, parasites, and bioindicators within terrestrial and, to a lesser extent, freshwater ecosystems.
Vision shapes how many animals find food, avoid danger and navigate their world. In animals with two eyes, eye placement is often linked to lifestyle: predators such as lions tend to have forward-facing eyes that help them ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 2, 2026
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The earliest evidence of spiders' fangs has been identified in a 518-million-year-old fossil by scientists at the University of Leicester and Yunnan University.
Evolution
Jul 1, 2026
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280
In ecology, the principle holds that the more diverse and heterogeneous a habitat is, the more different species it supports. To promote species diversity in forests, clearings are therefore created for nature conservation ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 29, 2026
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How many insects and spiders live in 1 square meter (11 square feet) of meadow? What impact do humans have on this biodiversity in mowed meadows, lawns and roadside verges? A new online tool answers these questions: the Insect ...
Ecology
Jun 29, 2026
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14
There's more than one way a spider can spin its web. Some construct large vertical orb webs, while others build horizontal sheet webs or tangled cobwebs that ensnare crawling insects.
Plants & Animals
Jun 23, 2026
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21
An international team of researchers has discovered a remarkable new spider species in the rainforest of North Queensland that spins an ingenious and powerful spring-actuated snare to catch a single species of ant—one ant ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2026
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1268
A James Cook University Ph.D. student's late-night solo survey has led to the first recorded sighting of a microwhip scorpion in the Daintree Rainforest. JCU entomologist and taxonomist Matthew Connors works at the university's ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2026
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49
Malaysian scientists have discovered a new species of parasitic fungus in Borneo's jungles that preys on "zombie fungi" known to infect insects before subjecting them to a gruesome death.
Ecology
Jun 19, 2026
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1692
Many animals exhibit fascinating collective behaviors, which allow them to move, search for food, reproduce and avoid threats more effectively than they would alone. One of these behaviors is queuing migration, which essentially ...
Citizen science data from the popular platform iNaturalist has helped uncover the evolution of parental guarding behavior in harvestmen spiders, as shown in research published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Plants & Animals
Jun 14, 2026
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