Amazing Arachnids

About this book

The American Southwest is home to an extraordinary diversity of arachnids, from spitting spiders that squirt silk over their prey to scorpions that court one another with kissing and dancing. Amazing Arachnids presents these enigmatic creatures as you have never seen them before. Featuring a wealth of colour photos of more than 300 different kinds of arachnids from eleven taxonomic orders – both rare and common species – this stunningly illustrated book reveals the secret lives of arachnids in breathtaking detail, including never-before-seen images of their underground behaviour.

Amazing Arachnids covers all aspects of arachnid biology, such as anatomy, sociality, mimicry, camouflage, and venoms. You will meet bolas spiders that lure their victims with fake moth pheromones, fishing spiders that woo their mates with silk-wrapped gifts, chivalrous cellar spiders, tiny mites, and massive tarantulas, as well as many others. Along the way, you will learn why arachnids are living fossils in some respects and nimble opportunists in others, and how natural selection has perfected their sensory structures, defence mechanisms, reproductive strategies, and hunting methods.

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Biography

Jillian Cowles is a clinical microbiologist, naturalist, and photographer. Her photographs have appeared in numerous books and publications, including The Bees in Your Backyard and Bugs Rule!, as well as museum displays, art exhibits, and murals.