Spiders (Araneae)

This group gathers Arachnids subcategory members belonging to the order Araneae, the spiders, the largest and most diverse arachnid order, found on every continent except Antarctica. It spans web-building species such as the golden orb-weavers and the various widow spiders, whose potent venom and distinctive markings make them among the best-known dangerous spiders in the world, wandering hunters that build no web at all, such as the wolf spiders and the large, fast-running huntsman spiders, and the jumping spiders, a family remarkable for sharp, forward-facing vision and, in the genus Portia, a documented ability to plan multi-step hunting strategies against other spiders, unusual problem-solving behavior for an animal with such a small nervous system. It also includes the tarantulas, a family of large, often heavily built and hairy spiders many times the size of most other spiders, several kept in captivity despite a popular reputation for danger that considerably overstates the medical risk most species actually pose to a person. Every member produces silk from specialized abdominal glands, whether or not the species in question uses it to build a web.