Eye arrangement
Eye number and pattern are taxonomic. Most spiders have eight eyes in two rows. Six-eyed arrangements (Sicariidae - recluses; Pholcidae - cellar spiders) and reduced sets are diagnostic at the family level.
Mechanoreception
Trichobothria (long sensory hairs) detect air currents. Slit sensilla on the legs detect substrate vibration and are how web-building spiders identify prey caught in their silk.
References
- [1]Spider Sensory Systems - Annual Review of Entomology. Accessed June 2026.
Related in Biology
- Spider anatomySpiders (order Araneae) have two body segments - the cephalothorax (prosoma) and abdomen (opisthosoma) - connected by a narrow pedicel.
- Spider silk and web typesAll spiders produce silk, but not all build webs.
- Spider life cycle and reproductionSpiders develop through egg, spiderling, and adult stages.
- Spider respiration: book lungs and tracheaeSpiders breathe through book lungs, tracheae, or both, depending on lineage.
- Molting and growthSpiders grow by molting their exoskeleton.
- Spider venom compositionSpider venoms are complex cocktails of peptides, enzymes, and low-molecular-weight compounds.