Spiders have 4 pairs of legs and a pair of pedipalps. Insects have 3 pairs of legs. Spiders have silk producing glands, or spinnerets, at the end of the abdomen. They also have two piercing fangs at the front of the cephalothorax. Mature male spiders have complex structures on the pedipalps that are used during mating.
M ating for some male spiders can be a dangerous thing.
When a male spider reaches maturity he is ready to find a female to mate with. You can tell a spider is a mature male if he has the ends of his pedipalps swollen like boxing gloves. Once the male finds a female of the right species, he has to announce his presence. The web building spiders pluck a message, while the hunting spiders do a little dance for the female. The male of most spiders is much smaller than the female.