Writing in Biology

In this first class meeting I looked at a common basement spider that was in a clear plastic cup with a lid on it. The spider was light brown and fairly large compared to the other spiders that my classmates were looking at. I estimate that the spider was 2 inches long, including its legs. This spider had 7 legs, which was unususal as most spiders have 8. It appeared as if one leg was ripped off prior to the spider being placed into the cup. The hind legs of the spider were significantly longer than the front legs. Each leg had 3 joints, and at each joint was a specific marking pattern that went black-white-black. The legs of this spider got progressivley thinner as they got further away from the body. I observed small hairs covering the legs and body of the spider. I thought that these could be a way for the spider to sense its external environment. The most prominent marking on this spider was a black sesame seed shaped marking on the top of the head. I also noticed that the spider had several small black eyes, and a mouth that resembled that of a crab. The spiders behavior was constant, varying between frantically moving around trying to escape, and not moving at all. I observed some thin white film that had stuck to the sides of the cup, which I predict was the spiders discharge in an attempt to spin a web. I asked myself why would the spider try to spin a web in such a confined space? The spider was symmertical if it were to be cut down the middle, with the exception of the missing leg on the left side. The thorax of the spider was where all of the leg protrusions came from, and the abdomen was signignificantly longer and the shape of a pea pod. The abdomen was light grey with two white spots on either side. There was a lighter brown patch that ran along the top of the abdomen. I wondered to myself: What kind of environment would these markings be beneficial to the spider?

    When the front end of the insect was inspected, there was what could be assumed to be its mouth, colored a slight orangery-red with a black outline surrounding it on most sides. Between the black lines and the thorax, on the bottom of the organism, was the most red component; a small red circle. Shaped like a leaf with its top cut off, the head had a tiny black dot on the top with a black outline around its rim. The front end of the head had a series of tiny black eyes, too small to accurately count without magnification. Two tan, tubular components were at the front of the head, and it was assumed that they were related to its ability to eat. But upon closer inspection of the front end of the insect, the aforementioned structures where the assumed mouth was began to look more like small apendages. Therefore, it was assumed that this organism was a member of the arachnid family due to the presence of eight legs.

The leg appendages of the spider have at least two joints where they bend. The first joint is located about 1cm up the leg. This first joint is colored somewhat darker than the rest of the spider’s body. The second leg joint is located about 1cm from the first. This joint also had a darker colored section, though it was followed by a lighter, almost translucent, section of leg. There is a likely another joint present where the leg meets the thorax, allowing for better movement of the spider.

Sitting on the desk in a little plastic cup in front me was a small spider. His body was about the size of a grain of rice and segmented into two sections and he was mostly a golden brown color with a spot of black on the second segment of his body.  Emerging from the smaller, front segment of his body were 8 long spindly legs. Each leg was segmented into three parts by two different joints. These joints looked to create bends in the les that added to the spiders mobility. Each joint was marked by a white spot at the bend that was sandwiched by two black spots on the outside of the joint. The rest of each leg was the same golden brown color held by the majority of the rest of the spider. His front two legs were the longest of his legs and seemed to be used in order to feel his way around and as a way to know his surroundings. He was rather still and motionless for a mjority of the time while I was observing him, however, when he did move, he moved all legs individually and seemed to have independent control of each limb. He moved gracefully and was unbothered by the outside movement of the cup. If I were to hold the cup and flip it upside down he would remain stable in place. After observing him in this environment, a small plastic cup, I would guess that his movements would be much different in his own habitat. 

Inside a small, clear container resides a spider. The spider is active, moving around the container, and prying its small, “daddy long legs” at the crease between the lid and container, likely in attempt to free itself. The spider is a very pale shade of gray in color. All eight of its legs are divided into three sections, and bent at different angles to aid the spider in holding itself upside down on the lid of the container. The entire spider itself is about the size of a quarter. Its legs are much longer than its body, approximately twice as big, and emerge out the top side of the spider. Four of the eight legs, more specifically the front two and back two, are being used to hold the spider in position. The other four legs are actively moving in various directions, crossing one another, and aiding the spider in feeling. Looking more closely, two pale gray eyes are visible, but are fixed in position. The body is divided into three oval sections.

The spider looks like a cellar spider you find around your house. At first it seemed like it was dead because it wasn't moving. However when i proceded to open the small plastic container where the spider was, the spider started to move. Maybe it was because i was letting some air in the container or the spider wanted to be free. I noticed the spider's eight legs are covered with many hairs.These particular arthropod had more than two eyes, i tried to count it but it was so small that i needed a microscope to do so. I was very intrigued wether i was observing a female or male spider because i wanted to know if that influenced it's behavior. I percieved that the spider was hanging upside down, i could only assume that it had maybe made it's own web. I never noticed a spider before and it was really interesting to observe a spider in class.

There were two spiders present in the small plastic container, one much larger in size (at least quadruple) than the other. In most species of spiders, the females are generally bigger than the males. In this scenario, the difference in size did not seem to be due to sex, rather to age. The smaller spider's abdomen was of a similar color and proportionally of similar size to the big spider, though its legs were much lighter in color and thinner. Both spiders' legs were folded in three sections, and contained two kneecap-like junctions. However, the larger spider's kneecaps possessed distinct coloration- the first set were white and the second set were black. Along with the size difference, this indicated the smaller spider to be- in the earlier developmental stages of legs- a young female or male, whereas the larger spider was an adult female. 

The spider is small, about three quarters of an inch and is suspended in the middle of the cup on its web.  You cannot see the web though so it looks as if it is floating.  It is awhite and black spider with a small body seperated into two parts.  The body kind of looks like an exclamation mark in microsoft word, the top being long and thi leaving into a circular part.  The 8 legs are coming off of this ciruclar part and are about 4 times the length of the body.  Each leg has two large bends and one slight bend.  the legs all come off the circular part going up at amost a 90 degree angle. At the first bend in the spiders legs, there is a band of black witha a stripe of whitegoing across it in the middle of the joint.

 As for behavior, the spider doesn't like to be on the cup itself, he likes to be on the web atlwast partially.  Shaking and tapping of the cup itself casued the spider to move.  It was trying to get out whenever the cup was moved.  If i covered the spot where the spider was then it would move to an open part of the cup and poke at the cup.

   As all spiders do, the specimen presented to me had eight legs around its body. However, this particular spider's front two legs were longer than the remaining six. From observing its mannerisms, I believe the spider used these legs as "feelers" in order to guide it around its environment. Furthermore, each leg had three distinct joints which are able to bend at or near 90 degree angles. In terms of coloration, the legs were mostly black with grey spots on its joints. Given that the legs were almost as thin as hairs, it was hard to distinguish the true color of each of them. With that being said, the spider was unique in the sense that its legs were different sizes, used for different purposes, and seem to have had specific markings at different locations on the leg.

The spider was relatively large compared to the others. I had a dark mustard color with black colorations on it's leg joints. Although the spider may have been large, the body of the spider was the size of a sunflower seed. The underbelly of the spider was transparent and displayed a white spot on it's rear. It's legs extended about an inch beyond it's body. The two front legs of the spider stretched further than the other six. There were small hair follicles that covered all of it's legs. The spider obtained two small balck dots for eyes, in which could not be observed anymore without a microscope. The spider wandered aimlessly in the container in search for an escape. Yet, the spider's movements were rapid. There wereno visible signs of web secretions made within the container. Yet, there was a carcus of the spider's previous meal.