What kinds of spiders are there?

That's a good question Laura. For the answer, we asked Marisa R. She knows a lot about bugs.

There are more than 30,000 known kinds of spiders, but scientists believe there may be as many as 50,000 to 100,000 kinds. Some kinds are smaller than the head of a pin. Others are as large as a person's hand. One spider, a Sourht American tarantula, measured 25 centimeters long with its legs extended.

Scientists classify spiders as either True Spiders or Tarantulas according to certain differences in their bodies, such as the way their fangs point and move. In addition, spiders can be grouped according to their way of life. For example, web-spinning spiders spin webs to trap insects. Hunting spiders run after insects or lie in wait for them.

For more information, see the table on page 790 in the World Book Encyclopedia Volume 18 in the school library.

We also got Pierre Kerr, ac210@freenet.carleton.ca, to check for information on the InterNet and this is what he found.

I came accross a project that is taking place all over the world. It is called the Jason project. One of the things they are doing is asking students to identify spiders that they find in their neighbourhood. I have given you some of the information from the Spiders of the World part of the Jason project. It explains the different types of spiders and how many have been found by the participating students.

Answer #% % filename IO.DOT page% % page 1 of% % numpages 1 % % date \@ "MMMM d, yyyy"April 19, 1995

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