# Venomless Spiders?



## Canfire (Nov 19, 2006)

I heard that there was a family of true spiders that didnt have venom. is this true or am I wrong?


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## lucanidae (Nov 20, 2006)

The Uloboridae are venomless.


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## Stylopidae (Nov 20, 2006)

How do they subdue prey?


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## NRF (Nov 20, 2006)

I don't know about _Uloborus_, but _Hyptiotes _slacken and tightens its triangle web until the caught prey gets totally entangled in the very sticky web. Then it wraps it with silk into a small package which it fills with digestive liquid (or what ever it is called), and the prey is melted alive :} Then the spider starts sucking and sucking. :} 
The spider has to build a new web for each prey because it totally collapses when a prey is caught.


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## Fince (Jul 6, 2008)

Just two pics from very interesting venomless cribellate orb weaver spider:

*Uloborus walckenaerius*


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## Pulk (Jul 6, 2008)

cool! haven't seen too many good photos of these.


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## Scott C. (Jul 10, 2008)

Fince said:


> Uloborus walckenaerius


Oh! Nice! I have a spider living loose in my bedroom that very much resembles that.... It builds a messy orb(ish) web on some of my plants, and refuses to take prey in front of me.  

Those are beautiful shots too. Thanks! 

..... and now I'm confused..... Not really even close to their(_Uloboridae_) supposed range(as far as I can tell anyway) but the web structure most definately fits the description.... horizontal, low to the ground, extremely fine strands giving almost wooly appearance. Even has the stabilimentum... huh.

Okay... found one reference for _Uloborus diversus_ found in SoCal... Gonna have to find that little guy and do my best to get some halfway decent pics.


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## EightLeggedFrea (Jul 10, 2008)

Isn't Liphistius non-venomous, too?


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## crpy (Jul 10, 2008)

Scott C. said:


> Oh! Nice! I have a spider living loose in my bedroom that very much resembles that.... It builds a messy orb(ish) web on some of my plants, and refuses to take prey in front of me.
> 
> Those are beautiful shots too. Thanks!
> 
> ..... and know I'm confused..... Not really even close to their(_Uloboridae_) supposed range(as far as I can tell anyway) but the web structure most definately fits the description.... horizontal, low to the ground, extremely fine strands giving almost wooly appearance. Even has the stabilimentum... huh.


im sure there has been a whole bunch on plants coming to a neighborhood near you.


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## Scott C. (Jul 10, 2008)

crpy said:


> im sure there has been a whole bunch on plants coming to a neighborhood near you.


That so?.... The spider living in my room was captured by a buddy in Northridge ~3 weeks ago, and let loose in my room. I see it now and again.... mostly just evidence of it's passing.... I will try to find it today, and get some pics, though they will be nothing compared to the great shots above worship: )


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## John Apple (Jul 10, 2008)

They are cribilate spiders and after a prey item get in the web they wrap it and start eating it alive...really neet spiders...I used to see a lot in Florida


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## josh_r (Jul 10, 2008)

EightLeggedFrea said:


> Isn't Liphistius non-venomous, too?


yes, they are non venomous


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## Scott C. (Jul 11, 2008)

Well.... I'm not posting pics.... It looks a hell of a lot like the pics already posted, and nothing like any image my equipment, and I, are able to catch.

Funny little critter is absolutely oblivious with it's web construction.... no manners whatsoever.... at least the other orbs leave room for the mammal


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## Necrobyheart (Jul 11, 2008)

Scott, one may assume you'd be able to tell by the technique of it, eating it's prey, might be the easiest route of everything.


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## Scott C. (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm trying.... It refuses to eat in front of me though.... I suppose it is content to feed off the vegetation flies produced by my jungle of a bedroom.... I will continue to watch it though, and try to feed it, for a glimpse of it's behavior.


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## Scott C. (Jul 14, 2008)

It most definitely is wrapping the prey tightly, and filling the sac produced with liquid. Between wrapping and feeding it takes a very long time to finish. Wrapping alone went continuously for ~15 minutes.....

Anyone know anything about the breeding of these guys, in particular, the care(or lack there of) of the eggsac by the mother? I ask because I have unidentified, and too small to see in any detail, slings swarming a plant that has been covered with a thick mat of webbing.... and I found a sling that is most definitely the same sp.. It has a tiny identical version of the horizontal orb no bigger than a ping pong ball's diameter.


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## ErgoProxy (Jul 21, 2008)

I believe that the properties of the "cribellate" silk capture prey in a slightly different way than the sticky strands of the Araneid orb weabvers. 

The Araneids add globules of a sticky proteins to the capture lines of the web (the spiral). The Uloborids "comb" out incredibly fine strands of silk for there capture lines which have the overall appearance of a brushed cotton ball. It is all these tiny fine lines of cribellar silk that entangle the prey items...I think of it as the "wooly" part of velcro while whatever is getting caught in it with all the spines and fine hairs to be the hard plastic portion of the velcro...


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