Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The woodlouse spider's powerful jaws are made to impale the thick armor of woodlice and are strong enough to give humans a painful bite. Although the woodlouse spider is a dangerous predator to woodlice, it is not known to be a health hazard to humans or smaller animals. [6]
These spiders have wide jaws and large fangs to help to overcome the solid armor-like shells of woodlice. It makes them powerful predators for their size, allowing them to dominate or kill competitors, such as centipedes or other spiders. D. crocata is the only species from the Dysdera family known to prey on other spiders. [6]
Dysderidae, also known as woodlouse hunters, sowbug-eating spiders, and cell spiders, is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1837. [ 1 ] [ page needed ] They are found primarily in Eurasia , extending into North Africa with very few species occurring in South America.
Woodlice are the most common prey of the spider Dysdera crocata. Woodlice are eaten by a wide range of insectivores, including spiders of the genus Dysdera, such as the woodlouse spider Dysdera crocata, [32] and land planarians of the genus Luteostriata, such as Luteostriata abundans. [44]
Harpactea is a genus in the family Dysderidae (woodlouse hunting spiders). Harpactea is a replacement name published by W. S. Bristowe in 1939 for the unavailable name "Harpactes" published by R. Templeton in 1835, which had already been used for a genus of birds. [2]
Predators of Glomeris marginata are reported to include the starling, the common toad, the woodlouse spider, [8] and hedgehogs. [6] As well as rolling up into a ball for protection, G. marginata produces noxious chemicals to ward off potential predators, as many millipedes do.
Porcellio scaber (otherwise known as the common rough woodlouse or simply rough woodlouse), is a species of woodlouse native to Europe but with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are often found in large numbers in most regions, with many species (shrews, centipedes, toads, spiders and even some birds) preying on them.
Armadillidium klugii is a lesser-known, rare Balkan, Dalmatia-based species of woodlouse, most distinguished by its colouration which resembles the red markings of the Mediterranean black widow Latrodectus tredecimguttatus. This is probably a kind of mimicry, to ward off predators that mistake the harmless animal for a venomous spider. [2]