Such a cute little thing, this baby cellar spider. Recent power outages gave it a home between a candle and wall by the bathroom sink. About the size of my thumbnail, it seemed rather innocent. So I let it stay, keeping watch for it's larger relatives in my shower. Their fate is down the drain, I prefer solo showering. A few days later this little spider was gone, replaced by an even smaller spider of the same kind. The first spiderling had doubled in size and was in the bathtub. Now it seems my house is being taken over by a horde of various sizes and species. They even bite! On my way to work I grabbed my bag only to be attacked by a tiny arachnid!
Arachnid: Any of various arthropods of the class Arachnid, such as spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks. Arthropods are characterized by four pairs of segmented legs and a body that is divided into two regions, the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
That is what defines the type of spider that is common here now. Notice that the definition tells us it is divided into two regions. Do you remember the creature we called daddy longlegs that has been replaced by these new spiders some call cellar spiders? A daddy longleg isn't even a spider. It's an Opilionid, which is characterized by having one basic body segment. Actually cellar spiders are often called daddy longlegs-more properly they would be daddy longleg spiders. Both have eight long skinny legs.
Okay, so I strayed from the subject of being invaded, but it's fascinating that we can have such similar yet different animals (yes, they are of the animal family as they don't have an exoskeleton, bear their young live and some are even hairy!) Back to the invasion- I just had a fat, really fast, wicked looking spiderling run across me. I deserted the couch and ended up here, so decided to bore ya'll with spider lore. What was that you just felt on your arm? Or is it on your neck?
