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.
A research team from Munich has identified a previously unknown communication mechanism in harvestmen. Five closely related species show species-specific, strongly fluorescent structures on their backs that become especially ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 26, 2026
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When researchers studying spiders and scorpions at the Zoological Collections Laboratory of the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, came across a few-millimeter-long spider wearing something resembling a pearl necklace, ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 5, 2026
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Dragline silk or major ampullate (MA) silk, the part of a spider's web that forms the main frame and spokes, is one of the toughest materials known to science. That is, it can absorb massive amounts of energy from a sudden ...
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have discovered the adaptive significance of the remarkable waste-management behavior in the social spider mite Stigmaeopsis longus, a tiny herbivorous arthropod that lives in cooperative ...
Evolution
Dec 4, 2025
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Male nursery web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis) use the sense of smell in their legs to find mates. Researchers at the University of Greifswald used an electron microscope to discover "olfactory hairs" on the legs of adult males. ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 3, 2025
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Spiders of the Clubiona genus, which are among the most important natural enemies of pests found in orchards, are active during the winter. New research in The FEBS Journal reveals the characteristics of antifreeze proteins ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 19, 2025
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In research published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, investigators analyzed records from social media to explore which arthropods—including insects and spiders—are most preyed upon by domestic cats in urban environments.
Plants & Animals
Nov 19, 2025
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What is thought to be the world's largest-known spider's web, housing tens of thousands of arachnids, has been discovered in a cave on the Albanian-Greek border.
Plants & Animals
Nov 14, 2025
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Researchers may have discovered the world's biggest spider web, a massive subterranean structure spanning over 100 square meters in a sulfur cave on the Albania–Greece border. The multilayered web along a wall near the ...
Different species of spiders produce different silks that serve different purposes, from floating on air to cradling eggs. The triangle weaver spider, Hyptiotes cavatus, weaves and holds a three-sided web under tension, which ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 4, 2025
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