Spiders Trivia Quiz

Answer: Australia

The redback is a notoriously dangerous spider in Australia, and many an Aussie fears finding one in the dunny (outside toilet). Its bite can cause pain, swelling, nausea and muscle rigidity; though it rarely kills humans, cats have died as a result of its bites. As its name suggests, it has a red stripe along its abdomen. The females of the species are generally bigger than the males.

Answer: Indian ornamental tarantula

The Indian ornamental tarantula lives in trees and is popular with tarantula collectors, with its striking stripes, although it can deliver a nasty bite. As the name suggests, it is mainly found in India. It can float down to the ground when disturbed by releasing threads (a process known as 'ballooning'), hence the nickname of 'parachute spider', and is defensive in nature, meaning it can be aggressive when threatened. Females outlive males by several years; while the average male lifespan is 3-5 years, females can live for 20 years or more.

Answer: Southern tree funnel web spider

Like many Australian critters, the southern tree funnel web spider has a nasty bite; it can cause nausea, vomiting, pulmonary oedema (a gathering of fluid in the lungs) and hypertension. Its fangs point straight down its body, rather than at each other, and can bite through fingernails and even shoes! As its name suggests, it lives in trees, and is most commonly found in eastern Australia. Females tend to be heavier than males.

Answer: No

This question was inspired by a Darwin Awards book which featured an Urban Legend about a couple bringing a saguaro cactus into their house, which turned out to be full of tarantulas, and were supposedly told that they would have been swarmed and killed. Tarantulas do bite, but it's not on the same level as, say, the black widow, and they certainly don't swarm and kill humans. They also only bite if they're afraid. Besides, if tarantulas were that potentially dangerous, would they really be allowed to be kept as pets?

Side note: Brachypelma klaasi is the rarest and most threatened Mexican tarantula species. Loss of habitat and illegal capture for the pet trade has impacted its population significantly, and only a tiny number live to adulthood in the wild.

Answer: Harvestman

The harvestman in this photo is from the Cranaidae family, a family which is commonly found in tropical countries. The difference between harvestmen and spiders is that harvestmen have a fused body region, while the cephalothorax of a spider (cephalothorax being the bit where the head and torso are joined together) is separated from its abdomen by a distinctive 'junction' or 'constriction'. Harvestmen cannot make webs, have two eyes (spiders can have as many as eight) and, crucially, do not have fangs, meaning that they can't inject venom into you.

As for the name, it's because their spindly legs were reminiscent of shepherds who walked on stilts to keep an eye on their sheep; another (misleading) nickname for the harvestman is the 'shepherd spider'.

Answer: black widow

The black widow is part of the Latrodectus family, which also includes the brown widow, and the female is recognisable by the red hourglass shape on her abdomen, although some variants have red spots instead. As the name suggests, the females will often eat their mates, although it does depend on the species. Male widow spiders can check to see if a female has already cannibalised another spider by sensing certain chemicals in her web. Contrary to popular belief, the bite of a black widow is rarely fatal, though it's certainly unpleasant.

They also rarely attack humans; they'll only bite if they're startled or frightened. They kill their insect prey by effectively dissolving the victim with digestive juices and sucking up the resulting goop.

Answer: Fiddleback spider

The brown recluse is also known as the fiddleback or the violin spider because of the marking on its back which resembles a violin (look closely at the photo and you'll see it). As well as the marking, it also has distinctive eyes; six eyes arranged in pairs, with one eye on each side of its head and two pairs of eyes in the middle.

It's also venomous, and its bite can cause necrosis (tissue death) in rare cases, along with a condition called loxoscelism (do NOT do an image search for this if you're squeamish!).

It gets its name from Loxosceles, the genus which includes the brown recluse. However, the spider is not aggressive.

Answer: Wolf spider

The wolf spider's name is actually a misnomer; it comes from the old belief that wolves hunted solo rather than in packs, which is how this spider hunts, stalking its prey, although the idea of the 'lone wolf' has since been debunked. It has excellent eyesight, and carries its eggs by attaching them to its spinnerets (the organs spiders use to spin their webs). Though it does bite, the bite is not dangerous. One particular large variety, Hogna carolinensis, is notable for being the only official American state spider; it became the official state spider of South Carolina in 2000.

Answer: Coloured bands on the leg joints

Unlike other spiders in the Agelenidae family, hobo spiders do not have the coloured bands on their leg joints. They tend to be brown in colour and can be found in Europe, North America and Central Asia, and prefer to live in fields rather than houses, to avoid competition from other spiders, such as the giant house spider. One feature of their webs is an escape tunnel at the back which leads into a protected area, such as a deep crack in a wall.

The males are more likely to bite than the females, as they tend to wander to look for mates, though they generally have little contact with humans.

As for how they got their name, it's because they were thought to expand their range into places, such as the remote Danish island of Peberholm, by hitching rides on human transport, including trains.

Answer: n

The camel spider is neither a spider nor a scorpion, though it is an arachnid - it's actually a type of creature called a solifugid, and the distinction between the two was identified by the Ancient Greeks. Its body is similar to a spider's, in that it is made up of two parts, the abdomen and the cephalothorax; however, there are two things it can't do, but spiders can.

It cannot make webs as it has no spinnerets, and it cannot produce venom, despite urban legends claiming it is dangerous to humans (it might nip with its jaws, but that's it).

As their name suggests, they can be found in deserts, though they also live in forests and scrubland. Incidentally, during the Second World War, British troops stationed in Libya would stage fights between solifugids and real scorpions. (My money's on the scorpions.)