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.
Have you ever walked face-first into a spiderweb while on a hike? Or swept away cobwebs in your garage?
Plants & Animals
Aug 13, 2025
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Arthropods, including insects and spiders, make up the vast majority of animal species on the planet.
Plants & Animals
Aug 6, 2025
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It's mating season for most of the 29 species of tarantulas in the United States, 10 of which can be found in California, according to Los Padres National Forest. Around this time, tarantulas tend to leave their burrows to ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 5, 2025
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Four new species of tarantulas have been discovered in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. But these aren't just any tarantulas.
Evolution
Aug 4, 2025
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In the middle of summer, garden vegetables like green beans are proliferating, but so are pests that like to chew and suck on them. Now, a study in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests growing bush basil ...
Agriculture
Jul 25, 2025
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Researchers with Baylor College of Medicine and Texas A&M AgriLife Research collaborated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, SCINet project and Ag100Pest Initiative to assemble the first ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 22, 2025
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A new analysis of an exquisitely preserved fossil that lived half a billion years ago suggests that arachnids—spiders and their close kin—evolved in the ocean, challenging the widely held belief that their diversification ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 22, 2025
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Researchers in a new study found that the world-infamous parachuting joro spiders will attack and eat each other in certain conditions.
Plants & Animals
Jul 14, 2025
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Scientists have discovered four new species of pseudoscorpions, blind cave-dwelling arachnids with dragon-like jaws. The subterranean creatures were found deep inside caves in South Korea by Kyung-Hoon Jeong and colleagues ...
It's not easy to look at a sea spider and see an animal so representative of its kind that it may help scientists sort out the evolution of almost everything with eight legs. But that's the potential a new study finds in ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 3, 2025
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