Common Name: Spiders

Type: Araneae, an order of arachnid.

Family: Arachnid/1 family

Range: Spiders are available worldwide on all continents except for Antarctica, and it is established that they survive in nearly every habitat Several species can be found in the national parks of Costa Rica such as Corcovado National Park, La Selva, Santa Rosa National Park, San Vito, and San Jose.

Size: They range in length from less than 0.1 cm (.04 in) to more than 10 cm (4 in). The Tarantulas have a body length of about 1 ½ inches (40 mm).

Weight: The spiders weigh before feeding 3 .5 ± 1 .5 mg . After feeding, the spiders’ weight had increased an average of 1 .1 ± 0 .9 mg or 30 % . The Tarantulas are the heaviest spiders by weight.

Diet: Spiders diets consist mainly insects and other arachnids; larger spiders eat small vertebrates, such as birds, snakes, and mammals

Average life span: Many spiders may only live for about a year, but a large number will live two years or more The average life expectancy of most spiders are about 2-3 years. Females live longer than males. One kind of Spider (the tarantula) life expectancy is 20 -25 years.

Habitat: The spiders are found everywhere, anywhere. The most diversified living creatures in the world. You can find Spiders living in very dry climates, tropic regions, they can thrive In every climate. Some live along the edges on ponds and lakes, homes , garden, Dry land. They can live anywhere they find shelter and food.

Breeding/Reproduction: Male spiders are generally smaller than female. Spiders are serious predators of each other. So mates can be difficult especially for the males. Using his claws they will send moderate signals and even vibrations through the web but he still has to persuade the female that he wants to mate not to eat. Spiders are oviparous, they lay between 2 to 1000 eggs, depending on the species. The females protect their eggs by making a silk ‘bed’ and covering by silk blanket and make the egg sac. Female hangs the sac at safe place and guards it until the babies emerge. When the babies emerge they stay inside the until developed. Few mothers wait until the youngs leave the sac and many will either leave that place or die before seeing their babies. Several spider species leave their eggs and leaving the babies to care for themselves.

Spiders are a suitable focal group for studies of vertical sharing patterns and the effects of disturbance. They are ecologically significant as abundant mid-level predators in forest rations webs are generally easy to locate and collect .This is receptive to variation in a variety of local personalities. Some of these characteristics include forest cover formation. Prey size and accessibility and local environ- mental conditions. The structure of spider assemblage and factors influence- in spider multiplicity is quite scantily studied in sultry regions. Even less is known of the spiders of tropical assortment regions and spiders of tropical afforest canopies. Biological information for most groups can be found only as comments in taxonomic surveys. Exceptions include studies by Bwskirk and Bus irk in montage forests of Costa Rica, Basset et al., in lowland forest canopies of Cameroon, and Valderrarna in Costa Rica.This spider strings its large web between trees in the forest across trails and gaps. Because they build in spots other insects are fleeing through. The spider may choose areas in judicious or even sparse forest. The golden orb weaver can be found in lowland forests from the southern regions of Florida and Texas down through Panama. In Costa Rica it survives on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts also.

Corcovado National Park, Palo Verde National Park, Curu National Wildlife Refuge, Cahuita National Park and Palo Verde National Park are the places. These spiders and their web are large and can be seen in the tropical forests of Costa Rica. This spider usually stays in their web that is made of luminous gold colored silk. This web could be one meter wide and few meters above the land. When any insect grasps in this silk, female spider slides over and bites it. She paralyzes the victim by injecting venom. After that she squash it in the silk and shifts it before start to eat.

These spiders catch and eat different types of flies, beetles, moths, bees, butterflies and more. Some type of butterflies is fewer edible due to toxins or due to other toxic chemicals in their bodies.

It is also known that none of Costa Rica’s are dangerous which have thousands of spider species. However, there is still that can and will bite if they are disturbed.

One type of spider has acid urine and if this liquid gives a feeling of burn if drop on to you. But the burn does not really hurt after some time, it just heals.