With more than 40,000 species of spiders in the world, there is a wealth of interesting detail to investigate. Here are a few spiders that do not spin webs.
The dune wolf makes its home in a sand tunnel and comes out to catch its food on the ground. The trap-door spider builds a tunnel in the ground, cementing the walls with glue and lining them with silk to make a cozy home. Over the opening, it makes a hinged door that opens and shuts as it comes and goes.
One of the most amazing is the water spider. It can walk or run on water but lives most of its life underwater in a silken nest. Working from a twig or stem above the water, it first forms a bell-shaped, air-tight balloon from its silk. It carries this down into the water and anchors it solidly. The spider keeps a large air bubble trapped in the top of the balloon so that it can breathe while it catches underwater insects. It can live on this air bubble for several months.
The fisher spider also gets its food from the water, but this one lives out in the open air. Although unable to swim, it can walk on the water because of hairy patches on its legs that hold air and make it buoyant. It chases insects on the surface but will dive down if something looks interesting below.
You might wonder how a spider could dive underwater and not drown. The secret is that it takes in air through the lower part of its abdomen. When ready to dive, it traps a bubble of air under its hairy body, and with this it can breathe underwater for a long time. You would think the air bubble would make the spider float to the surface. However, the spider dives directly to some solid object where it hangs on with its legs and waits for a victim to swim by. It has been observed catching minnows and piercing them with poison before taking them to shore to eat.
Spiders are very beneficial to mankind, disposing of many flies, mosquitoes and other harmful insects. They all tell of God’s wonderful plan in creation and the way He has provided for the individual needs of each one of them.
But more important than all this is what God says of you and me: “I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him” (Isaiah 43:77Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:7)). But we cannot be to His glory unless we are His children through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you, through faith, accepted Him as your very own Saviour?
ML-05/18/2003