Tarantulas and true spiders

[LunarFaery]

Ive seen on several posts the terms "true spiders". I was wondering what the difference between tarantulas and true spiders?

Thanks

Jen

 

[Immortal_sin]

I think that they are refering to araneomorphs vs myglamorphs ....
one of the differences is the fang structure...myglamorphs go up and down, araneomorphs are side to side.
It's way more complicated than that, but that is a start anyway!
I'd suggest going to the ATS site www.atshq.org
They have lots of free downloadable articles that can give you alot more information!

 

[LunarFaery]

Thanks Holley!! Its a great start. Its one of the things that Ive been wondering about and havent had a clue on where to begin.

Jen

 

[D-Man]

Also, most araneomorphs have only one set of book lungs - this is 1 reason T's are looked at as primitive. True spiders have 3 tarsal claws for handling silk, and more spinnerets and more silk glands that produce various silk types as opposed to T's.

T's may be primitive, but they're beautiful and far out live true spiders.

Dario

 

[Vys]

I guess we by primitive mean 'less refined' or some such..I tend to think of them as just ancient. Just like sharks and tuataras, they've managed to stay for a long time without changing their form much.

 

[skadiwolf]

i agree. basically in practical terms, 'primitive' just means that they evolved so well for their environment that they didn't need to change any further.

you'll find that in reptiles especially with boas, who, unlike colubrids have both lungs still fully developed and many have anal spurs.

i like to think of them as perfectly evolved.