CheliceratasP

- Includes spiders, scorpions, harvestmen, mites, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders
- Terrestrial and consists of the terrestrial Arachnida, extinct Eurypterida, and marine Xiphosura which all forms
Euchelicerata
- Pycnogonida is probably a sister taxon of Euchelicerata

FORM
The chelicerate body is divided into two tagmata:
Cephalothorax - or prosoma, consists of the acron plus 7 segments and bears 6 pairs of appendages. It forms the
embryo through fusion of the head with eyes and chelicerae and thorax with pedipalps and legs.
o No first cephalothoracic segment appendage; deuterocerebrium is absent
o Chelicerae first appendages on the chelicerate cephalothorax are on the second segment. It consists of 2/3
articles which form a chela or pincer
o Pedipalps second appendages that are modifies to perform various but often sensory functions in different
taxa
o Walking legs four pairs that are the remaining cephalothoracic appendages
Abdomen or opisthosoma, consists of 12 or fewer segments. Abdominal appendages are primitively platelike and
have respiratory function.
o Preabdomen mesosoma, anterior of seven segments
o Postabdomen metasoma, posterior with five segments and terminal telson or spike

XIPHOSURAC
- Horseshoe crabs
- Abdomen is well developed and segmented
- Cephalothoracic segments are fused and covered by a sclerite, carapace
- Live in shallow marine water on soft bottoms
- Limulus polyphemus live on continental shelf but migrates to very shallow wate

FORM
Neither the cephalothorax nor the abdomen is obviously segmented
Tail spine extends from the posterior end of the abdomen
Carapace dorsal exosekelton whose anterior edge resembles a bulldozer blade and used to plow through soft
sediments
o Bear small ocelli on its anterior midline and pair of lateral compound eyes
Cephalothorax ventrally is strongly concave and bears 6 pairs of appendages and mouth
o Chelate chelicerae - the first appendages composed of 3 articles
o Uniramous walking legs unspecialized 4 appendages composed of 6 articles (coxa, trochanter, femur,
platella, tibia and tarsus)
o Pedipalp first walking leg of males used to grasp the female prior to mating
o Pusher legs 4 leaflike processes attached to the end of the first tarsal segment
o Flabellum lateral spatulate sensory exopod bore by the coxa of the pusher leg
o Gnathobase placed in the coxae of legs 2 through 6
Abdomen unsegmented and concave ventrally and first into the recess on the posterior edge of the cephalothorax
o Branchial chamber houses and protects the abdominal appendages which are book gills
o Xiphosuran abdomen is formed of 9 fused segments (vestigial postabdomen 9th segment; preabdomen
segments 1-8)
o Chilaria small, one articles appendages of the vestigial first abdominal srgment
o Genital operculum broad and flat, pair of fused appendages, which is part of the second abdominal segment.
These are biramous and have basal protopod from which arises and endopod (narrow) and exopod (broad and
flat)
o Lateral spines bears in segment 3 through 7 together with the book gills which are appendages of these
segments that are swimming legs that have been modified to function as respiratory organs
o Lamellae elaborations of the exopod and the endopods are sensory
o Telson long tail spine that extends posteriorly on segment 9, used for pushing and righting the body

NUTRITION
Xiphosurans are omnivorest that feed on benthic molluscs, worms and other organisms
Gnathobases form a food groove along the ventral midline of the cephalothorax which begins between the pusher legs
and to the mouth. It also crushes and grind food items in the groove
Chelae used to capture and move small invertebrates to the food groove
The ectodermal foregut is lines with cuticle and consists of the esophagus and proventriculus
o Consists of thin-walled, distensible crop for storage and a muscular toothed gizzard
Pyloric valve separates the gizzard from the midgut
Two large pairs of digestive ceca are connected by hepatic ducts and each consists of countless tiny, branched tubules
whose lumina are continuous with the midgut lumen
Xiphosuran ceca have deposits of bright white calcium phosphate
Midgut epithelium secretes a peritrophic membrane of chitin and mucoproteins that encloses the food mass and feces
Carcinoscorpius has saxotoxin which is a horseshoe crab tissue that is lethal to predators

INTERNAL TRANSPORT
Body cavity is a hemocoel and the coelom is vestigial
Diastole blood enters the heart from the pericardial sinus through 9 pairs of ostia
Systole blood leaves through a arterial system consisting of an aorta to the anterior cephalothorax and pairs of arteries
Arteries deliver blood to hemocoelic sinuses surrounding the tissues
The blood contains respiratory pigment hemocyanin as well as hemocytes that function in clotting (granulocytes) and
production of hemocyanin (cyanocytes)

GAS EXCHANGE
Respiratory surfaces are the multitudes of flat, pagelike gill lamellae on the posterior of the five pairs of book gills in
the branchial chamber
Lamellae thin, parallel, cuticularized evaginations of exoskeleton
o 80 to 200 lamellae on the exopod which can create permeable gas exchange
Flabellum monitors the water quality

EXCRETION
Nitrogen metabolism is ammonoletic
Saccate nephridia (coxate glands) share common duct, bladder and nephridiopores which open on the coxae of the
fifth pair of legs
o Lost in the adult

NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSE ORGANS

The cephalized CNS is dominated by a large brain or supraesophageal ganglion
Brain syncerebrum consisting of two pairs of large neuromeres
Subesophageal ganglia consists of fused ganglia of remaining cephalothoracic and first two abdominal segments
Lateral eyes compound eyes consisting of 2000 ommatidia each, which has a corneal lens to concentrate light on the
rhabdome
Median eyes pigment-cup ocelli with spherical cuticular lenses

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Horseshoe crabs are gonochoric and have true external fertilization
Paired gonads derived from coelomic spaces
Ovaries and testis composed of branching, arborescent tubes that extend throughout the hemocoel
Spermatozoa flagellated with 9 + 2 or 9 + 0 axoneme
The eggs are macrolecithal, centrolecithal and enclosed in a thick envelope. Meroblastic cleavage forms from a
stereoblastula in which the yolk is concentrated in the interior cells
Trilobite larva 1 cm long, swims and burrows in the sand and resembles a miniature adult with a small tail spine and
two of the five pairs of book gill are present
Sexual maturity is not reached for 9 to 12 years and life span may be 19 years

ARACHNIDAC
- Spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks
- Includes:
o Scorpiones scorpions
o Palpigradi palpigrades, microwhip scorpions
o Uropygi whip scorpions of vinegaroons and schizomids
o Araneae spiders
o Amblypygi amblypygids
o Pseudoscorpiones false scorpions
 o Solifugae solifuges or solpugids
o Opiliones harvestmen or daddy long legs
o Ricinulei ricinuleids or tick spiders
o Acari mites and ticks
- Includes all terrestrial chelicerates
- Silurian scorpions were aquatic and contemporaries of eurypterids
- Trigonotarbida first terrestrial arachnid

FORM
Body is divided into two tagmata: anterior cephalothorax and the posterior abdomen
Unsegmented cephalothorax covered dorsally by the carapace which is a sclerite and may be divided
o Anterior chelicerae are two to three articled and are equipped with poison or silk glands. They arise in the
embryo, and preoral in adults
o Six articled pedipalps chelate or leglike and fulfill raptorial, locomotory, sensory, reproductive, etc.
o Coxa gnathobase used to macerate food in preoral cavity
o Walking legs remaining four pairs of appendages each having 7 articles and equipped with intrinsic flexor
muscles
Pedicel narrow waist that joins the cephalothorax and the abdomen and is formed by the 7 th segment
In the abdomen, the segments are evident and may be divided into an anterior preabdomen and posterior postabdomen
Abdominal appendages are usually absent and do not resemble legs. Whereas tail spine or telson is usually absent, it is
present in scorpions as sting and in the others as flagellum

NUTRITION
Arachnids are carnivores and their digestion begins externally
Preoral cavity where the digestion occurs, is a pocket formed by the surrounding appendages and the carapace.
o Not part of the gut, it only precedes it
Foregut consists of cuticularized pharynx, esophagus and stomach. A filter of setae is often present
Hindgut include an intestine, cloaca and rectum, connects the midgut with the anus

GAS EXCHANGE
Organs are either book lungs or trachae which are both invaginations of exoskeleton into the hemocoel
Small arachnids rely on cutaneous gas exchange
Book lungs thought to have evolved from book lungs, but in others arose in the apodemes
o Housed in a sclerotized invagination of the integument of the ventral abdominal wall
o Original respiratory organs
o Present only in scorpions, spiders, amblypygids and uropygids
Book gills elaborations of the exopods of the abdominal appendages of aquatic chelicerates
Stigma slit-shaped spiracle connects the invaginated atrium with the exterior
Pedestals short and peglike between the lamellae that prevent them from collapsing onto each other
Tracheae invaginations of the integument lined with cuticle and are passageways that arise at spiracles on the body
and extend onto the hemocoel. It has two types:
o Sieve tracheae are derived from book lungs, consist of atrium and spiracle which arise in numerous lamellae
that are delicate, branched tubes. Occur in spiders, pseudoscorpions and ricinuleids
o Tube tracheae are branched or unbranched tubes arising individually at surface spiracles. These are found in
the harvestmen, spiders, mites and solifuges

INTERNAL TRANSPORT
The heart is a muscular dorsal tube, which is secondarily lost in palpigrades and mites
Heart wall is composed of circular muscles and has an outer layer of longitudinal muscle and connective tissue and is
surrounded by the pericardial sinus
Pulmonary sinus encloses each book lung which receives blood form within the perivisceral sinus and includes the
intralamellar spaces of the book lungs
Pneumopericardial vein extends from the pulmonary sinus to pericardial sinus and carries oxygenated blood from
lungs to heart.
Blood of some arachnids consists of respiratory pigment hemocyanin

EXCRETION
Arachnid primarily rely on guanine, adenine, xanthine or uric acid and these are all nontoxic
Two types of respiratory organs:
 o Saccate nephridia (coxal glands) inherited from the aquatic ancestors; derived from coelomic sacs usually
associated with one or two cephalothoracic segments and have ducts opening on the coxae of those segments
o Malphigian tubules invented at least once and several times; diverticula from the gut in the vicinity of the
midgut-hindgut junction. They are endodermal and arise from midgut
o Tracheate malphigian tubules ectodermal and arise from the hindgut
Nephrocytes large phagocytic cells in clusters in the hemocoel and accumulate metabolic waste products and may
detoxify and return to blood

NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSE ORGANS

Brain consists of only two regions
Protocerebrum contains the optic centers and is connected with the eyes via the optic nerves
Cheliceral ganglia homologous to the tritocerebrum of mandibulates, innervates the chelicerae
Deutocerebrum ABSENT
Subesophageal ganglion sends sensory and motor nerves to the pedipalps and other cephalothoracic appendages
Circumenteric connectives connects the brain and subesophageal ganglion
Three types of sense organs: sensory setae, eyes, slit sense organs
Setae the chief sense organs of arachnids consisting of mechanoreceptors, chemoreceptors and trichobothria
Trichobothria (trich = hair; bothrium = cup) mechanoreceptors specialized for detection of weak air movements
o Long, slender, solid seta, arising from a cup-shaped bothrium
Slit sense organs cuticular strain gauges that detect small changes in the tension on the exoskeleton due to its
deformation
o They respond to load stress on joints during locomotion and respond to gravity & airborne vibrations
o Consists of a long, narrow slit-shaped crevice 8 to200 um long and 1 to 2 um wide
Lyriform organs slit sense organs the may be isolated or clustered in groups
They lack antennae on the first head segment and have flagella in the telson that is sensory and functions as posterior
antenna

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Arachnids are gonochoric and fertilization is always internal. Some arachnids have a copulatory penis for direct
transfer. Whereas indirect transfer is via spermatophores. Indirect sperm transfer without spermatophore is practiced
by spiders
Courtship ritual complex and precopulatory, respond to chemical tactile or visual cues from the potential partner
such cues provide recognition of conspecifics and elicit the complicated behavior, receptivity, and posture that indirect
sperm transfer requires
Macrolecithal eggs are centrolecithal and cleavage is usually superficial. Most arachnids are oviparous but all scorpions
and few mites are viviparous.

EURYPTERIDAO
- Extinct euchelicerates from Ordovician to the Permian
- They were predaceous sea scorpion
- Were the largest arthropods that ever lived
- Ranked as a subclass in the class merostomata
- Share characteristics like tagmosis and apomorphy of a sternum formed of the fused chilaria of the stem
chelicerae
- Eurypterid body plan the six cephalothoracis segments are fused and covered by a carapace and is smaller tp
the abdomen
- Cephalothorax has 6 pairs of appendages, first the small chelicerae and last, pair of paddles or walking legs.
- Eurypterids were capable of swimming and crawling on the bottom
- Abdominal segments are not fused and there is a distinct, 7-segmented preabdomen and a narrow 5-
segmented postabdomen
- Preabdomen has 5 pairs of book gills and no genital operculum
- Postabdomen has no appendages but tail spine extends posteriorly from its last segment

SCORPIONESO
- Belongs to Silurian and Devonian and were aquatic, had gills and lacked claws
- Generally secretive and nocturnal and are found in most terrestrial habitats
- Exhibit a striking green fluorescence under ultraviolet light
- Tryphlochactas mitchelli are the smallest species and Hadogenes troglodytes is the larges
FORM
Scorpion body consists of a cephalothorax and a long, segmented abdomen ending in a telson or sting
Cephalothorax is completely covered by the carapace
Some scorpions are eyeless
Scorpion chelicerae small chelate, and project anteriorly from the front of the body and along with the labrum, form
the roof of preoral cavity
Pedipalps greatly enlarged which form a pair of large pincers for capturing prey
Coxae replace the sternites of the anterior cephalothorax
Sternum ventral plate represents the fused sternites of segments 5 & 6
Gnathobases coxae of the first two walking legs that form the floor of the preoral cavity
They have no pedicel
Long abdomen composed of a wide, seven segmented preabdomen and narrow postabdomen of five segments
Preabdomen covered by a series of seven segmental tergites an ventrally, by sternites
o Sternites and tergites are connected laterally by flexible, unsclerotized pleural membranes
o Pectines are the appendages of the second segment are comblike sensory appendages of the structures
projecting laterally form their attachment near the ventral midline
Abdominal sternites 3 through 7 unmodified and four of them bear a pair of transverse spiracles opening into book
lungs
Tail also known as segments of the postabdomen are narrow sclerotized rings undivided into individual sclerites
Last segment bears the anus and venomous sting

NUTRITION
Scorpions feed on invertebrates and insects and other arachnids
Pedipalp fingers are open with tips of the movable fingers and pectines touching the ground
Prey is detected by tricobothria on pedipalps and by vibrations of the ground sensed by tarsal hairs and slit sense
organs
Sting - attached to the posterior end of the last segment and consists of a bulbous base and sharp, hollow, curved barb
that injects venom to the prey
Venom produced by a pair of poison glands in the base of the sting
o Not dangerous to humans but can be painful
o Family buthidae possesses highly toxic venom that can be fatal to human
o Neurotoxic venom may cause convulsions, paralysis of the respiratory muscles or cardiac failure
Scorpions are most active during first hours of darkness

INTERNAL FORM AND FUNCTION

Gas exchange is accomplished by 4 pairs of book lungs. Water loss for the lungs is reduced by spiracles under
muscular control
Hemal system includes a dorsal tubular heart with seven pairs of segmental ostia in the pericardial sinus of the
preabdomen
o Accomplishes the transport of oxygen form lungs to tissues
Excretion is done by two pairs of malphigian tubules and one pair of saccate nephridia which open on the coxae of
the third pair of walking legs.
Scorpions can tolerate a water loss up to 40% of their body weight. Integument is impermeable, feces are dry and
excretion produces almost dry nitrogenous wastes
Stilting permits the circulation of air beneath the animal to maximize convective heat loss to the air and minimize
conductive gain from the ground
o It is wherein their bodies raise off the ground
Pectines sensitive to ground vibrations to some physical or chemical characteristics of the substratum
o Recognizes the appropriate substratum for placing spermatophores and their amputation prevents
spermatophore desposition

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Scorpions are gonochoric and use spermatophores for indirect sperm transfer
Gonads located among the tubules of the midgut diverticula in the preabdomen have a unusual morphology consisting
of 4 longitudinal tubes with several transverse cross connections
Seminal receptacle in the female system, for storage of sperm
Paraxial organs in the male system, which sperm are packaged into complex spermatophores consisting of a lever,
stalk and ejection apparatus and sperm reservoir
It takes a male 3-4 days to make a spermatophore
The male grasps the females pedipalps with his and they walk, hand in had, backward and forward in a promenade a
deux and sometimes sting the female. This dance is using pectines to locate a suitable site for depositing a
spermatophore
Scorpions are viviparous and eggs are retained in the female reproductive tract. Development is direct and females give
birth to relatively large juveniles that resemble miniature adults
o Development of the large, yolky eggs takes place in the lumen of the ovarian tubules
o Each diverticulum includes includes a cluster of absorbing cells at the upper end
o Cells rest against the mothers digestive ceca form which nutritive material is acquired
Scorpions reach sexual maturity in 6 months to 6 years molting 4 to 7 times and may live for 25 years

UROPYGIO
- Whip scorpions
- Cephalothorax is covered by a carapace that bears a pair of anterior median eyes and 3 or 5 pairs of lateral eyes
- Distal article forms a fang that folds against the large basal article
- Raptorial pedipalps are stout and heavy and short in comparison with the legs
- Last two articles of the pedipalps may be modifies to form pincer used in seizing prey
The large segmented abdomen is divided into two sections:
Preabdomen - is large and consists of 9 segments
Postabdomen - has only 3 segments and is much smaller and narrower
Antenniform flagellum extends from the postabdomen
Pair of book lungs are located in the second and third abdominal segments
Repugnatorial glands open on each side of the anus and when irritated, elevates its postabdomen and sprays the
attacker with fluid from these glands
o In Mastigoproctus, the secretion is 84%acetic acid and 5% caprylic acid
o Caprylic acid facilitates penetration of the acetic acid through the integument of an arthropod predator. It ca
burn human skin and odor is responsible for the name vinegaroon
Sperm transfer is indirect via spermatophore
*during the complex courtship behavior, the male holds the tips of the sensory legs of the female with his chelicerae and
female picks up spermatophores with genital area and the male uses his pedipalps to push them in her gonopore
Schizomida classified separately
o The carapace does not cover the entire cephalothorax and posterior two segments are covered by tergites
o Flagellum is short with max. of 3 segments. Has only one pair of book lungs
o first leg is antenniform and has a sensory role

AMBLYPYGIO
- whip spiders
- Tropical and semi tropical arachnids and are secretive nocturnal animals
- Have a dark and somewhat flattened spiracle like body
- Carapace completely covers the cephalothorax and bears one pair of median eyes and three pairs of lateral eyes
Chelate cheicerae similar to those of spiders but lack poison glands
Raptorial pedipalps heavy and spiny, used to capture prey
Gait crablike because of flattened body and its tendency to move laterally
Segmented abdomen connected to cephalothorax by narrow pedicel
Has two pairs of book lungs on the ventral side of the 2nd and 3rd abdominal segments
Amblypygids do not produce silk but their internal anatomy resembles the spiders.
Pharynx and pumping of stomach used to suck liquid food into the gut
Malphigian tubule and one pair of saccate nephridia responsible for excretion
Spermatophores are used in indirect sperm transmission

ARANEAEO
- Spiders
- Largest arachnid taxon
- Terrestrial and occur on all continents except antarctica
- Easily distinguished because of their pedicel between the cephalothorax and abdomen
- Only arachnids with silk-spinning appendages and spinnerets on the posterior abdomen and are strictly
carnivorous
- Divided into three subtaxa: Mesothelae, Mygalomorphae, and Araneomorphae
Araneomorph most derive, with labidognath fangs that move in the transverse plane that oppose each other
 Mygalomorph tarantulas, bird spiders, trapdoor spiders have orthognath chelae which the fangs move only in
a longitudinal plane and cannot move transversely to oppose each other
Mesothelian spiders most primitive and has primitive chelicerae and segmented abdomen

FORM
Spiders range from tiny species less then .5 mm to 9 cm. the usual two arachnid tagmata are present but separated by a
pedicel and the abdomen can be moved independently of the cephalothorax to distribute silk
Cephalothorax composed of fused 6 segments
o Adult cephalothorac is completely covered by a distinctive convex carapace bearing 8 anterior eyes
o Ventrally, it is covered by 2 sternites which are small anterior labium and large posterior sternum
Abdomen composed of 12 segments, in almost all spiders, are completely fused w/o signs of segmentation
o Only book lungs and spinnerets have segments
Thoracic groove on the carapace, marks the position of the apodeme on which the dilator muscles of pumping
stomach insert
Each chelicera consists of a distal fang and a basal piece that the fang folds against
A pore at the tip of the fang is the opening on the duct from the poison gland
Female pedipalps resemble short eggs and are unremarkable whereas the males sever as sperm transfer organs
Pedipalpal endite process of the coxae of the pedipalp that forms the sides of the preoral cavity
Spiders always have 4 pairs of legs. The soft, ovoid abdomen is unsegmented except in the mesothelae in which it
bears the dorsal segmental tergites
Epigastric furrow transverse groove on the ventral side of the abdomen
o Associated with the furrow are the epigynum and gonopore
o Slit shaped spiracles of a pair of book lungs lie on each side of the furrow
Spinnerets modified appendages bore by the posterior end or the abdomen
Tracheal spiracle situated anterior to the spinnerets and anus is posterior to them

SILK
Silk production is distinctive feature of spiders
Silk glands abdominal, produces silk
Spigots where they are extruded on the distal tips of the spinnerets
Spiders had 4 pairs of spinnerets but now is reduced to 3: anterior, median and posterior pairs
o Spinnerets are short conical structures derived from appendaes of the abdominal segments 4 & 5. They are
very mobile and can move independently
Cribellum found on some araneomorphs, is a modified spinneret with up to 40,00 tiny spigots
o Each spigot produces single very fine fiber that cab be pulled from the cribellum by the calamistrum, a
comblike row of setae on 4th metatarsus and teased into a composite wooly thread effective for snagging the
setae of insects
Spider silk protein composed of largely glycine, alanine and serine and similar to insect silk
o Emitted as a liquid and hardens from being drawn out which changes the proteins conformation
o Drawing out occurs as the spider moves away from an anchored thread or pulls the threads with its posterior
legs
Function of silk was reproductive
Sperm web spinned by the males as part of process of transferring semen to the female
Most spiders continually lay a dragline of dry, nonadhesive silk behind them as they move about. After hatching, the
young of some species are carried aloft on air currents (ballooning) by means of silken strands
Construction of webs most familiar use of silk for capturing preys

PREY CAPTURE
Prey is caught by web building spiders or is pounced on by members of the more active cursorial (running spiders)
Dragline may have been precursor of the web; may have been elaborated to produce many types of snare webs
Orb web circular, constructed by Araneidae (orb web spiders) such as the black and yellow garden spider
o Most several types of orb web lie in a single plane
o Consists of 5 distinct regions:
Hub or platform is the center, consists of irregular network of threads where the spider spends most of its
time
Radial threads extend like sunburst outward from the hub to the frame
Frame of single threads borders the periphery, frames the web and attaches to vegetation or other structural
features of the environment
 Catching spiral most obvious part, an adhesive thread that spirals outward just outside the hub to the frame
and occupies most of the space between the hub and frame
o Crosses the radial threads repeatedly and creates the meshwork of closely spaced threads in which
insects are caught
Free zone between the hub and catching spiral, consisting solely of radial threads. In this zone, the spider can
pass safely through the plane of the web from one side to the other
Eyesight is not well developed for spiders but sensitivity to vibrations is exquisite. Positioning and locations of the web
are not random
Cusorial spiders believed to be derived from web building ancestors through loss of web building habit
o Include wolf spiders, fishing spiders, crab spiders, jumping spiders and mygalomorph spiders
Scapulae tufts that are composed of setae whose ends are split into as many as 1000 branches
o Increases surface area which setae contacts on the substratu,
o Can walk up smooth vertical walls or glass and upside down across a ceiling
All spiders are solitary

NUTRITION
Spiders are carnivores that ingest liquid food after digestion in preoral cavity
Mouthparts include the chelicerae, pedipalpal coxae and labium.
Foregut- includes the mouth, pharynx and esophagus.
Midgut has extensive system of branching digestive ceca
Hindgut is a short rectum
Poison glands opening at the tip of the fang and equips the chelicerae
o Located on the basal segment of the chelicerae and extend backward into the head
Chelicerae may be used to hold & macerate tissues during digestion and have additional roles such as carrying egg
cocoons, digging and stridulation
Latrodecus black widow, have dangerous bites. They are smooth, glossy black with a globbose abdomen and red
hourglass shape on ventral side of the abdomen
Symptoms are pain in the abdomen and legs, high cerebrospinal fluid pressure and nausea, muscular spams, etc.
Loxosceles recluse spiders, produce hemolytic venom and local necrosis or ulceration. They have 6 eyes in 3 pairs
Uricitcating setae setae that are heavily barbed, irritating and readily penetrate the skin of potential predators that
enter the tarantulas burrow. They cause rash and itching in humans
*Some spiders puncture the other wise intact prey and pump digestive enzymes from the midgut then suck the
hydrolyzed fluid leaving behind nearly intact husk
*others use chelicerae to macerate the prey into a shapeless mass and mix it with digestive enzymes from the midgut
Pedipalpal coxae have toothed edge used to lacerate the prey and mix it with digestive fluid
Suction provided by the muscular pharynx and pumping stomach which is a specialized region of the posterior
esophagus
Extracellular digestion completed in the ceca and also absorption occurs here
Spider wasps (Pompilidae) put the paralyzed spider in the underground chamber
Mud daubers (Sphecidae) put a number of paralyzed spiders in a mud tube attached to elevated objects

GAS EXCHANGE
Spiders have book lungs or trachea for gas exchange
Primitive mesothelian and mygalomorph spiders have 2 pairs of book lungs located ventrally on the second and third
abdominal segments and no trachea
Most spiders have pair of anterior book lungs and posterior set of tubular trachea derived from pair of book lungs
Sieve trachea either exclusively or combination with the tube trachea
Spider trachae simple, unbranched tubes supported by chitinous taenidia

INTERNAL TRANSPORT
Spider hemal system is similar to that described for other arachnids such as scorpions
Heart dorsal tube in the anterior abdomen is enclosed in a pericardial sinus and has only 2-3 pairs of ostia
Pulmonary sinus surround the book lungs, connect directly with the pericardial sinus via pneumopericardial veins
Use blood pressure to extend their legs and cannot elevate blood pressure to extend the legs
Jumping spiders jump y suddenly elevating their blood pressure to forcefully extend the third or fourth pair of legs

EXCRETION
Nitrogenous end products guanine, adenine, and uric acid which are absorber from the blood by malphigian tubules
and deposited in the cloacal chamber for incorporation to the feces
Primitive spiders have 2 pairs of well developed saccate nephridia in the cephalothorax
o Their nephridiopores open on the coxae of the first and third walking legs
o Araneomorphae spiders, only the anterior pair is present and usually it is degenerate
Epithelium of the intestine and cloacal chamber participates In the transfer of nitrogen from the blood to the gut lumen
Nephrocytes absorb nitrogenous waste
Guanocytes and interstitial cells on the epithelium of the digestive ceca absorb and store guanine

NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSE ORGANS

CNS is highly cephalized with all segmental ganglia coalesced in the supraesophageal and subesophageal ganglia
Abdominal nerves extend from the subesophageal ganglion into the abdomen innervate abdominal structures but
nerves are not ganglionates
Most spiders have 8 eyes in 4 pairs on the anterior dorsal margin of the carapace
o Each eye has single lens that serves its receptor units and there are no facets
Two types of eyes are present in spiders:
Main eyes or anterior median eyes, are median ocelli of the direct type. They do not have reflective tapetum and are
black.
o Are usually small but in jumping spiders, are very lare.
o Six eyed spiders lost their main eyes
o Capable of forming an image
Secondary eyes the anterior laterals, posterior medians and the posterior laterals. Indirect eyes that are thought to
have derived from the lateral compound eyes of the ancestral chelicerate
o No longer retain the faceted construction of typical compound eyes
o Usually have a tapetum of reflective pigment to improve vision in low light intensities and appear pearly white
due to reflectivity
o Detect 9ovement
Jumping spiders have no tapeta but have the most highly developed eyes
Large anterior median eyes of the jumping spiders are unique in having the photoreceptors arranged in four layers
which is believed to respond to the different wavelengths of light
In custorial spiders, eyes are important for detecting movement and locating prey
Spiders have a number of cuticular sensilla including tubular chemoreceptive setae on the tips of the appendafes, tactile
setae, trichobothria, slit sense organs and tarsal organs
Abundant setae equipped with sensory dendrites and are important sources of environmental information in all
spiders and in web building spiders
Agelena funnel web builder that can determine position of prey by means of trichobothria
Contact chemoreceptive setae taste buds, are hollow and have open distal end and 21 dendrites inside
o Concentrated in the pedipalps and tarsi of the first egs
Slit sense organs sensitive and enable the spider to discriminate vibration frequencies transmitted through the silk
strands of the web even through the air
Spiderlings detect the vibration signals produced by a mother when a male tweaks to the strands of her web
Tarsal organs cuplike structures on the tarsi of the legs and are olfactory receptors for pheromones

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

- Spiders are gonochoric and have internal fertilization with indirect sperm transfer
- Do not use spermatophores
- Male uses pedipalps to transfer sperm to the female
- Spiders are usually sexually dimorphic
- Males, often much smaller than females, have large highly modified pedipalps
- Fertilization occurs in the uterus and eggs are deposited through the gonopore.
- In primitive spiders (Mesothelae and Mygalomorphae), the male pedipalp is inserted directly into the gonopore
to deposit sperm in the seminal receptacles.
- In derived spiders (Araneomorpha), fertilization ducts are present, but there is an additional set of ducts, the
copulatory ducts, leading to the seminal receptacles from a pair of copulatory pores in the epigynum
- Epigynum a ventral sclerite immediately anterior to the epigastric furrow\
- The intromittent organs, which are highly modified tips of the pedipalps, are remote from the gonopores.
- The pedipalpal tarsi are extremely complicated, but the essential features are the sperm reservoir, a duct, and
an embolus, the latter being the intromittent organ. Sperm is stored in the reservoir.
 - Orb-weaver males pluck a radial thread held by the female or a mating thread that he has attached to the
females web.
- Egg sac is attached to the web, hidden in the spiders retreat, carried in the chelicerae, or attached to the
spinnerets and dragged about behind the mother.
- Spiderlings hatch inside the egg sac and remain there until they complete the first molt.
- Upon exiting the egg case, the spiderlings of many species engage in ballooning, which disperses the species

PALPIGRADIO
- The 70 known species of palpigrades are mostly less than 1.5mm in length and none are larger than 3mm.
- Microwhip scorpions are blind interstitial soil arachnids occurring primarily in tropical and subtropical
habitats but also in European subterranean environments.
- Cephalothorax divided into a large anterior region of four fused segments covered by the carapace and two
independent posterior segments covered by separate tergites.
- Chelicerae three articulate
- Abdomen composed of an eight segmented preabdomen and a postabdomen of three segments
- The postabdomen terminates with a long , antenniform flagellum. The pedipalps are relatively large and leglike.
- The first legs are antenniform and have a sensory role.
- Malphigian tubules are absent, but one pair of saccate nephridia is present.
- Eyes are absent and the chief sensilla are trichobothria

PSEUDOSCORPIONESO
- Taxon that consists of small arachnids rarely exceeding 7mm in length
- Widespread in leaf litter, under bark, in soil, and in moss and debris
- Chelifercancroides species that live in human houses and is known as the book scorpion.
- Their resemblance to true scorpions is superficial and due solely to their common (convergent) possession of
large chelate palps.
- Move rapidly backward, although some also move forward and some, sideways.
- Phoresy - phenomenon in which they grasp the leg of an insect with their pedipalps and hitch a ride as it flies to
a new habitat.

FORM
- Pedipalps used to capture and fill food, build nests, court, fight, and receive sensory information
- the sternites of segments 2 and 3 are fused to form the genital operculum

INTERNAL FORM AND FUNCTION

- feed on small arthropods such as springtails and mites, which are captured, killed, or paralyzed by the
poisonous pedipalps, and then transferred to the chelicerae
- Neobisium & Chthonius primitive pseudoscorpions in which the chelicerae masticate the food into a pulp as
digestive fluid from the midgut floods onto it.
- Preoral cavity functions like a syringe, ingesting digestive fluid into the prey.
- Muscular pharynx sucks the fluid into the midgut, leaving a dry, masticated husk behind.
- Midgut spacious site of enzyme secretion, hydrolysis, absorption and storage.
- Pseudoscorpions are gonochoric, with courtship varying from nonexistent to elaborate
- The female constructs a brood nest of silk and other materials. She lives in the nest and releases eggs into a
membranous brood sac attached to her gonopores
- The female remains in the nest until the first instar juveniles (protonymphs) hatch from the eggs.
- Life cycle: three juvenile instars (protonymph, deutonymph, and tritonymph) and the adult.
- All pseudoscorpions inhabit small crevices

SOLIFUGAEO
- Solifuges are tropical and semitropical arachnids
- Sometimes called sun spiders because of their spiderlike appearance and diurnal habits or wind spiders
because of the great speed of the males
- Many are common in warm, arid, regions of the world but they are also known from grasslands and forests
 - Hide under stones and in crevices and many dig burrows
- Their length ranges from a few millimeters to as much as 7cm
- It has been said that, relative to their size, solifuges have the largest jaws in the animal kingdom
- Each chelicera has a stridulating organ on its inner surface.
- Long, leglike pedipalps terminate in an adhesive disc that is not apparent unless it is everted.
- Their pedipalpal coxae are gnathobases that macerate the food prior to external digestion.
- The first legs are used a antennae and the remaining three pairs are used for running
- Solifuges are carnivorous or omnivorous, with termites forming an important part of the diet of many American
species
- Excretion is accomplished by a pair of saccate nephridia, nephrocytes and two Malphigian tubules..
- Two to five sensory racquet organs (malleoli) are present on the coxa and trochanter of the fourth legs.

OPILIONESO
- Opiliones or Phalangida, contains the familiar long legged arachnids known as daddy long legs or harvestmen
- Harvestmen are abundant in vegetation, on the forest floor, on tree trunks and fallen logs, in humus, and in
caves.
- Do not produce silk or toxins and they do not bite, although they may rarely pinch
- Unlike almost all other arachnids, many are herbivores and many feed on dead organic material and they are
capable of ingesting particulate food
- Most species are shades of brown, but some are red, orange, yellow, or spotted. Some have spiny bodies
- Dorsally the cephalothorax is completely covered by a carapace, in the center of which is an eye tubercle with a
median eye on each side.
- According to the English arachnologist Theodore Savory, the study of harvestmen is a study of legs
- Self amputation (autonomy) of a leg is an important means of defense against predators, although legs cannot be
replaced after being lost.
- The first three to eight abdominal tergites typically are fused to form a single dorsal shield, which is usually
fused with a carapace
- Harvestmen are predatory, but scavenging is more important for them.
- Opilionids are gonochoric and have internal fertilization with direct sperm transfer
- Mites are the only other arachnids to possess a penis or ovipositor
- harvestmen refers to some common temperate species that appear in large numbers in the fall

RICINUCLEIO
- Small, uncommon arachnids known as tick spiders
- Heavy-bodied and small, measuring up to 10mm in length
- Attached to the anterior margin of the carapace is a unique, hoodlike cucullus that can be raised and lowered.
When lowered, it covers the preoral cavity, mouth and chelicerae
- Ricinucleids are blind, but have light-sensitive spots
- Life cycle: One larval, three nymphal, and an adult instar stage.
- Juveniles have three pairs of walking legs

ACARIO
- Extraordinarily diverse taxon that contains about 40,000 known species of mites and ticks
- Mites are the only arachnids with a significant presence in aquatic habitats and they are common in both
marine and freshwater.

FORM
- Smallest arachnids 0.25 to 0.75 mm in length
- There are mites small enough to live in the tracheae of honeybees, beneath the wings of beetles, in the quills of
feathers, in the lungs of snails, and in human hair follicles and sebaceous glands
- Ticks largest mites, may reach 3 cm when engorged with blood
- an obvious mite characteristic is the apparent lack of tagmata or segmentation
- Idiosoma posterior, is most of the body, including the entire abdomen and most of the cephalothorax
 - Gnathosoma (capitulum) is the anteriormost part of the cephalothorax, but it contains neither the brain nor
eyes and is only the tip of the head, not the entire head.
o a retractable feeding structure consisting of the chelicerae, pedipalpal coxae,preoral cavity, and parts of
the anterior exoskeleton
- Infracapitulum is formed of the labrum dorsally and the large endites of the pedipalpal coxae ventrally and
laterally
- Oribatida (beetle mites) with 145 families and 14,000 species, is the largest and best studied taxon of free
living mites
o Beetle mites are abundant in leaf litter and moss
o Globe-shaped
- Water mites have adapted to an aquatic existence in both fresh and saltwater
o They do not swim, but rather crawl about over algae, bryozoans, hydroids and sponges

NUTRITION
- Most ingest fluids and even when feeding on solid food, rely on initial external digestion and liquefaction
- Small crustaceans are the principal prey of water mites
- A number of spider mites are serious agricultural pests of fruit trees, clover, alfalfa, cotton and other crops.
- Spider mites construct protective webs from silk glands that open near the base of the chelicerae
- Minute gall mites ( Eriophyoidea) which also feed on plant cells and have stylet-shaped chelicerae, include
species that are agricultural pests
- Dermatophagoides is commonly associated with house dust, where it feeds on discarded human skin cells.
- Feather mites live in the fur of animals are also scavengers, not parasites, subsisting on oil, dead skin and
feather fragments
- the majority of parasitic mites are ectoparasites of animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, but other forms
of parasitism exist
- Tracheal mites (Acarapis) live in the tracheae of honeybees (Apis mellifera) and damage tracheal walls to
gain access to blood.
o Tracheal mites and Varroa mites which also feed on blood, have made commercial beekeeping
much more difficult and expensive and have nearly exterminated feral honeybee populations
- The juvenile stages of the common harvest mites (Trombiculidae) parasitize the skin of vertebrates
- Larval species of Trombicula are the familiar chiggers, or redbugs
- A six legged seed tick (larva) hatches from the egg
- Ticks attack all taxa of terrestrial vertebrates and are sometimes the vectors of pathogens
o Responsible for the transmission of American Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, Texas cattle
fever, relapsing fever and Lyme disease.
- Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorfi, which is transmitted by the deer tick, Ixodes
scapularis
- Peromyscus leucopus which is the major reservoir for the spirochete.
- Sarcoptes scabiei (human itch mite), the cause of scabies, or seven year itch, tunnels into the epidermis

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Acarines are gonochoric
- Anblyseius brazilli a predatory, tropical, mesotigmatid mite, reaches adulthood in 7 days and the female has a
life span of 30 days.

PYCNOGONIDAC
- Pycnogonida or Pantopoda
- Exclusively marine animals known as sea spiders
- Pycnogonids are not spiders, however, and the name is based on superficial similarities, such as eight long legs
and a small body
- Sea spiders are common benthic animals that occur from the intertidal zone to the deep sea. They live in all
oceans from the poles to the tropics.
FORM
- Body length ranging from 1 to 10 mm.
- Colossendeis regularly achieve a leg span of 40 cm, and 70 cm has been reported.
- Athough most pycnogonids are drably colored, some are green or purple, and deep-sea forms are often red or
orange
- The body usually is narrow, tubular and composed of seven segments coalesced to form what appear to be four
segments
- Cephalon anteriormost tagma composed of four segments
- The trunk is composed of three, sometimes more, segments
- Vestigial abdomen is a small dorsal process on the last trunk segment
- Appendages of the cephalon: Chelicerae (chelifores), pedipalps (palps), ovigerous legs (ovigers) and one pair
of walking legs
- The chelate chelicerae function in food handling, whereas the pedipalps are used for sensory reception,
feeding and cleaning
- Ovigerous legs used by the male to carry the egg mass following its deposition by the female.
o Sometimes they are also used for grooming

INTERNAL FORM AND FUNCTION

- Most pycnogonids are carnivorous that feed on soft bodied animals such as hydroids, soft corals, anemones,
bryozoans, small polychaetes, and sponges.
- Molluscs are the principal hosts for parasitic species
- Endodermal hindgut (intestine) has long, narrow diverticula, or digestive ceca, extending into each walking
leg and sometimes into the chelicerae, pedipalps, and/or ovigers.
- Hydrolysis and absorption occur in the midgut and its ceca
- The midgut connects with the short hindgut (rectum), which is located in the abdomen and opens to the exterior
at the anus
- Pycnogonids have no special organs for gas exchange
- Dorsal brain consists of a protocerebrum, and a posterior part of cheliceral neuromeres, but no
deutocerebrum.
- Protocerebrum receives the optic nerves from the eye tubercle and the posterior neuromeres innervate the
chelicerae
- Pycnogonids are gonochoric and employ external fertilization
- A gastrula forms by the inward growth of cells in small eggs and by epiboly in yolky eggs
- In most pycnogonids, a protonymphon larva hatches from the egg
o It has three pairs of appendages (chelicerae, pedipalps and ovigerous legs), each having only three
articles
- The eastern pacific Propallene longiceps develops from egg to adult in about five months