It does not grow wings at any stage of its life.
It is eight-legged, and in place of the normal insect antennae it has
pedipalps. A spider generally has eight simple eyes or it could have
six eyes e.g. a spitting spider. Depending on the species the eyesight
may be well or poorly developed. Some species, such as the cave
spiders, are totally blind. Depending on the species a spider's life
span ranges from a couple of months to more than a decade (e.g.
mygalomorphs).
Almost all spiders have their first pair of appendages later modified
into fangs with venom glands. But only a few have fangs that are large
and strong enough to pierce human skin. Out of these, most cannot do
any serious damage to human beings except for about four to five
species which can be lethal.
The Black Widow spider, for example, which is found in South America is
the most poisonous of all spiders. The female of the species, whose
poison is strong enough to kill a human being, often kills and eats the
male after mating and is thus aptly named the Black Widow. This spider
is shiny black in colour with a red hour glass mark on the ventricle
side of the abdomen. Fortunately, there are no spiders in India which
can seriously harm human beings.
There are about 30,000 species of spiders in the world. They have been
found upto a height of 23,000 feet up Mount Everest as well as
underwater.
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