Brazil's Fauna

CLASS ARACNIDAE (arachnides)

(Spiders, scorpions, ticks  etc.)  

 

     

            Introduction/classification

         The Aracnidae Class belong to the Subphylum Chelicerata and to the Phylum Arthropoda, and it is composed by the Orders that follows:

Orders: Acarine (ticks and acaros); Amblltpygi; Araneae (spiders); Opiliones (opilions); Palpigrada; Pseudoscopionida (pseudo-scorpions); Ricinulei; Scorpionida (scorpions); Solpugida; Uropygi (vinegar scorpions).

As this is not a scientific work and our pretension is not talking everything about the subject, and also, mainly, because our purpose is giving the nature observer a notion about Brazilian fauna, we are just going to show some families that are most known and which species can be observed by their size.

We stand out the following orders:

   

            Order Araneae (spiders)

It's calculated that there are about 32 thousand spiders' species all over the world. 

They are animals that put eggs, and in some species it reaches 3 thousand eggs.

Some species construct webs and another ones are solitaires. There are also some of them that construct hiding-places, where they stay hidden for hunting.

Some species have high grade of poison, as the terrible black widow.  

The biggest spider of the world is the Mygalomorphae spider, that can reach 25 cm, but it is not dangerous to man, because its poison is not effective.

          The order Araneae is divided into the following families: Agelenidae; Argiopidae; Ctenizidae; Lycosidae; Salticidae; Theraphosidae; Theridiidae and Thomisidae.

            Some spiders genes and species that occur in Brazil:

                - Tarantulas

                    The big tarantulas are from de family Theraphosidae, and are the biggest spiders' species of the world. They can reach 25 cm, but they aren't dangerous to man, because their poison is of little efficiency.

                 They are good hunters, eating many animals as insects in general, and also mice and birds.

         - Aranhas-armadeiras  (Phoneutria)

          As aranhas-armadeiras vivem em locais escuros, quentes e úmidos onde há entulhos, cachos de banana etc. São comuns em terrenos baldios, tendo ainda o costume de entrar em sapatos e botas. São aranhas agressivas e a qualquer ameaça já "se armam" levantando as patas dianteiras. Sua picada é muito dolorosa e o veneno, que atinge o sistema nervoso e provoca muitas dores, pode até levar a morte crianças ou adultos debilitados. Ex: Phoneutria nigriventer, P. keyserlingi.        

                      - Loxosceles

                    These spiders are about 2 cm and have a very dangerous poison, that in some cases can make fatal victmuns. Ex.: Loxosceles gaucho, Loxosceles intermedia, Loxosceles laeta and Loxosceles similis   

        -  Lycosas

        These spiders live mainly on grawns, where they usually hunt. They use a jump to capture the victum. It is too poisoned. Ex.: Lycosa erythrognatha, L. nychthemera   

                     - Latrodectus

                          These spiders are from the family Theridiidae and maybe are the most apalling spiders of the world, because its poison is to strong, but accident occurence is more difficult.

 

 

    PS.: The naturalist of fauna observer, many times, can find spiders that are predated by vespas, as we have burned in this picture.

 

 

        Spiders' Sites:

         Order Scorpionida (scorpions)

The order Scorpionidae composed by animals known as scorpions, and there are about 1.260 species, divided into 17 families: Bothriuridae (105 species); Buthidae (570 species); Chactidae (128 species); Chaerilidae (18 species); Diplocentridae (83 species); Euscorpiidae (55 species); Hemiscorpiidae (7 species); Heteroescorpionidae (3 species); Ischnuridae (56 species); Iuridae (21 species); Microcharmidae (7 species); Pseudochactidae (1 specie); Scorpionidae (119 species):; Superstitionidae (9 species); Troglotayosicidae (2 species):; Urodacidae (20 species) and Vaejovidae (146 species).

No Brasil ocorrem cerca de 90 espécies.

Escorpiões são animais vivíparos, ou seja não põem ovos. 

         Espécies principais que ocorrem no Brasil:Tityus bahiensis; Tityus serrulatus;Tityus stigmurus; Tutyus cambridgei.

 

        Scorpions' Sites:

 

       - Scorpions in Europe

        - Scorpions in Africa

        - General

         Information:

In case of damage, look for:

Instituto Butantã  (0 - 55 - 11) 3726-7222

Hospital Brasil Vita (0 - 55 - 11) 3276-7962

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