Page 86 - A Field Guide to Fairfax County's Plants and Wildlife
P. 86
et Web Spiders
(Linyphiidae)
Description
Sheet web spiders are small,
dark, shiny spiders less than
8 millimeters long. Sheet web
spiders have eight eyes in
two rows of four. They have
venomous fangs that they use
to bite their prey. Rough spots
on their fangs are rubbed
together to produce sounds.
Most sheet web spiders are active at night and stay close to their webs. Males
and females come together only to mate. Females hide their eggs in special
sacs made of silk and attach them to their webs or grass stems. In order to
grow, baby spiders must shed their exoskeleton, which they do many times
during their lives.
Spiders in this family spin small Distribution and Habitat
horizontal sheets of webbing, or
domes, and hang upside-down Sheet web spiders are found in all
underneath the web. When a small kinds of habitats, anywhere there
insect or other animal walks across are small insects and at least a
the dome, the spider bites through little vegetation to support their
the silk and grabs its prey, pulls it webs. They are found in all five
through and eats it. physiographic provinces.
Role in Food Web
Sheet web spiders eat insects and
non-insect arthropods. Predators
include other spiders, centipedes,
ants, ground beetles and small
amphibians.
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(Linyphiidae)
Description
Sheet web spiders are small,
dark, shiny spiders less than
8 millimeters long. Sheet web
spiders have eight eyes in
two rows of four. They have
venomous fangs that they use
to bite their prey. Rough spots
on their fangs are rubbed
together to produce sounds.
Most sheet web spiders are active at night and stay close to their webs. Males
and females come together only to mate. Females hide their eggs in special
sacs made of silk and attach them to their webs or grass stems. In order to
grow, baby spiders must shed their exoskeleton, which they do many times
during their lives.
Spiders in this family spin small Distribution and Habitat
horizontal sheets of webbing, or
domes, and hang upside-down Sheet web spiders are found in all
underneath the web. When a small kinds of habitats, anywhere there
insect or other animal walks across are small insects and at least a
the dome, the spider bites through little vegetation to support their
the silk and grabs its prey, pulls it webs. They are found in all five
through and eats it. physiographic provinces.
Role in Food Web
Sheet web spiders eat insects and
non-insect arthropods. Predators
include other spiders, centipedes,
ants, ground beetles and small
amphibians.
r 82 r
