Like insects, spiders are arthropods, but whereas insects belong to the class Insecta, spiders belong to the class Arachnida. Spiders have eight legs and usually have eight eyes. There are around 50,000 species of spider described world-wide and 700 of those occur in northern Europe.
Spiders tend to be good parents.
Those that look after their young can afford to have fewer offspring and have the same success rate as those that produce hundreds of spiderlings. The courtship of spiders is often very interesting to watch. Some spiders perform elaborate mating dances, while others present their mates with gifts. Spiders are important predators of insects and in particular those insects that are considered pests. They employ many different techniques to catch prey.