Perfect Paragraph

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.

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. 

   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.
 

Regarding the cephalothorax of this specimen, it seems to have two dark spots located on the top as well, which may be another set of eyes, and due to the nature of this spider they might be used simply for light detection and thus be less developed than its other sets of eyes. When we think about eyes, we tend to think about our own and asume that the rest of animals view the world in a very similar way as us. Nonetheless, there are many different kinds of eyes in nature, some more developed and complex than human eyes, others more simple and primitive. Since this specimen seems to be a cellar spider, we can asume that its habitat is mostly dark and moist, and in such environment possesing fully developed eyes capable of distinguishing shapes, features, and colors, may not be useful and actually have a great energy investment that does not compensate. Instead, maybe this species relies on other senses such as chemoreception or mechanoreception, and while some of its sets of eyes may actually have a tapetum or similar structure that allows them to see in the dark, the most probable role of the set of eyes located on top of the cephalothorax may be just perceiving subtle changes in light intensity, so that the spider has a way of telling if it is exposed to the open where it could be easily predated, or if it is instead inside a dark environment like a cellar where it has an advantage over its prey.

The spider observed has a light brown exterior with slightly darker appendages. The spider, including its appendages, was about the size of a quarter with the legs making up most of the area.  The legs of the spider appeared to be about the thickness of a piece of average hair. The abdomen of the spider was slightly darker than the head which is a very light brown. Where the appendage bends, there are areas which appeared to be slightly darker or slightly lighter like joints.  Each appendage contained 3 joints forming a trapezoid like shape. About a millimeter away from the terminal end of the leg, there was a final bend away from the body that connected with the surface supporting the spider. When the cup was moved, the spider tilted with it in order to stay upright.  The spider moved from the bottom of the cup to the top when flipped around. When hanging from the top of the cup the abdomen and head did not make contact with the cup. The spider seemed to be sticking to the top of the cup upside down with just its legs. The cup contained what appears to be the beginning of a web with small, white, tubular, thin filaments.  A few white and light brown dots were observed in the cup.

When the spider is stationary on its legs, its body does not touch the ground. At the moment, one of its legs is pointed upwards, almost as if it is trying to sense its surroundings. It is hard to tell where the web in the cup starts and ends. As I flip the cup over, the spider remains in its place despite previously appearing to be on the surface of the cup, suggesting that the spider was in its web the entire time. It is possible that the spider’s web extends throughout the entire cup since it appears to exist on opposite surfaces. This could give us clues as to how long the spider has been in the cup, especially if we are aware of the rate of its web-making. Perhaps the spider has been creating more of its web as I have been writing. Although I accidentally bumped the cup and sent the spider into a frenzy, it has calmed down. Overall, the spider is very calm in its environment.

At first observation, the spider doesn't seem to be doing anything. It appears to be hanging on its web. The spider has 8 long and thin legs attached to a short, thick, and translucent torso. The spider appears to have several eyes on its head, but I can't be sure without some sort of magnification. After nearly dropping the container, the spider is awake and moving rapidly around it. This stopped after 10 minutes, and the spider is now hanging on its web again. I tried to elicit some sort of response by using my phone's flashlight, but even after 15 seconds of light, the spider did not move.

Inside a small plastic container, a very small brown spider with distinctively long legs alternated between stillness and seemingly frantic movement. The spider appeared to be a very small “Daddy Long Legs.” It was about the size of an average pinky nail, with legs that were very long and slender in proportion to its midsection. Both its legs and the top of its midsection were a very pale brown, but the underside of its midsection was whitish. Its midsection was comprised of two round sections, one appeared to be a “head” and was small and round, while the other was a longer, slender oval, and appeared to be the body. It had 8 legs. The front legs, towards the head, were longer than the back legs. When the spider was in a resting position, most of its legs extended sharply up at a slight diagonal, relatively straight out, and then diagonally back down to the ground, forming an obtuse half rectangular shape. Those legs were triple jointed. A couple of its other legs were double jointed and extended up at a smaller angle relative to its body, and then back down.  It prodded constantly at the walls of the cup it was in, appearing to be making frantic efforts to escape. Its legs were able to move up and down, but also in a lateral motion. Sometimes it moved its legs in circular motions while it prodded at the edge of the cup. When it was not doing these movements, it remained completely still.