Spiders are an obsession of many people because this animal has an unfriendly appearance. Whether they are house spiders or poisonous spiders, they have a reputation for being ugly and scary. Just the hairy legs and 8 eyes alone are enough to make women faint! Yet Mother Nature also created a species of spider with a very “ironic” appearance. It’s a devil-horned gourd spider as small as the tip of a fingernail, with a colorful collection like a carnival!
Despite its scary appearance, this devil horned spider is not poisonous. They are also not a threat to humans. On the contrary, many people feel that their “cow horns” look quite cute!
Devil’s horned gourd spider – an artistic “masterpiece” of creation
The devil-horned gourd spider is a member of the Araneidae spider “family” that exists in huge numbers across the planet. They are quite small in size, with an average body diameter of only about 3cm. But they possess giant horns like gladiators
According to a research document titled “Early spider webs from the Cretaceous period and their prey” published by a group of foreign authors in 2006, it is possible that the devil-horned gourd spider was one of the ancient “weavers” that appeared. existed more than 100 million years ago. They are even said to have gone extinct three times, then regenerated spectacularly.
Now, the devil horned spider is no longer rare, but is still a unique creature that fascinates the scientific world. The reason they are called gourd spiders is because of the special way they weave webs in a circular shape. It is like the private “seal” of the Araneidae family.
They are also known as star spiders, or spine-weaving spiders due to their impressive jagged “shell”. The largest spine is located symmetrically in the middle of the back, the remaining smaller spines grow out like crab legs. Perhaps this is the spider with the most “stage names” on earth! Devil horned spiders are distributed on all continents. Which is Singapore, East Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, America, Australia…
Devil’s horned gourd spiders come in many shapes. Some have giant horns, some are covered with small spikes. Some are dark, some are bright, but all are quite whimsical! Just look once and you will feel “shuddered” because it is so impressive.
The hard outer shell protects devil-horned spiders from enemy stings and struggling prey. Such as wasps. These spiders arch their backs towards their enemies to defend themselves with sharp spikes. The thorns also make it difficult for birds of prey to grab. If it is swallowed, the enemy must “spit out” the demon horn spider immediately if it does not want to die of choking. This tiny creature also has a secret weapon, a smelly chemical that causes most enemies to retreat immediately.
In Australia, devil-horned gourd spiders are excellent “soldiers” in destroying insects. In America, they can be found as “jewelry” adorning flower beds or walls overgrown with vines. They are hard-working gardeners with countless patterned spider webs spread everywhere. Those “invisible” nets are quite sophisticated, making it easy for insects and bees flying by to get caught.
When prey sticks to the web, the tiny “assassin” will feel it through vibrations. It rushes out to inject venom and digestive fluids with its tiny fangs, paralyzing the victim. Then it uses its own silk to roll the bait up like a cocoon. And they don’t bother to go to sleep, they work hard to weave a new one so they can “trap” the bait again the next day. Well, maybe that’s why devil-horned gourd spiders are known as “sleeping day and night”!
The bite of these tiny multi-legged guys is completely harmless to humans. However, their spines can puncture your skin and cause pain. Be careful if you see some colorful thorns sticking out from the bushes!
5 seconds of “life and death” after maintaining the race
Like many other spider species in the world, male devil horned spiders have a rather tragic fate. Instead of dying from old age and illness, they will “go to heaven” right after mating. It’s not that they were so happy that they fell over and died, but they were eaten by a female spider the first time they had ʂҽx!
Researchers have discovered that no male spider is lucky enough to survive the second mating. If they escaped death the first time, it was because they “quickly” jumped away 5 seconds early. If you intentionally stay in “making love” for longer than 10 seconds, you will end up becoming prey for the female spider!
This devil horned gourd spider also knows how to get depressed if inbreeding. Children will be stressed when they meet a partner who is their “cousin”. How do they know that? You could try crawling into some bushes in America and find some devil-horned spiders to ask and “confide in”, but we don’t know!
