Spiders

*"They eat harmful bugs, like mosquitoes. They protect people. That's what they are, Peter. Protectors. They're helpful. And in this world, folks need all the help they can get."*
―Ben Parker to Peter Parker[src]
**Spiders** (*Araneae*) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk.

## History

### Columbia University Labs Experiment

In 2002, scientists from the genetic labs at Columbia University have been experimenting on spiders and have combined the genetics from three spiders into fifteen genetically engineered super spiders. A group of Midtown High School seniors took a field trip to visit the genetic labs and admired the experimented spiders. Unknown to everyone, one of the genetically engineered super spiders had escaped from its container and found its way onto Midtown senior, Peter Parker which bit him and injected its mutated venom and DNA inside of him, mutating his cells and enhancing his human attributes.

Peter would later discover that he had gained the proportionate powers of a spider, which he would use to become the superhero, Spider-Man.

## Characteristics

Spiders can detect slight vibrations. Some spiders change colors to blend into their environment as a defense mechanism.

## Known Spiders

According to the lab tour guide, there are over 32,000 known species of spider in the world. They are in the order Aranae, which is divided into three subgroups (Mesothelea, Orthognatha, and Labidognatha). All spiders are carnivorous, ravenous eaters who feed on massive quantities of protein, in liquid form, usually the juices of their prey. Arachnids from all three groups possess varying strengths which help them in their constant search for food.

* **Delena Spider**: The Delena Spider, family Sparassidae, has the ability to jump to catch its prey. In the novelization, it is the **Jumping Spider** (family Salticidae, genus Salticus), which can leap up to 40 times its body length thanks to a proportionate muscular strength vastly greater than that of a human being.
* **Net Web Spider**: The Net Web Spider (family Filistatidae, genius Kukulcania) spins an intricate, funnel-shaped web whose strands have a tensile strength proportionately equal to the type of high-tension wire used in bridge building. In the novelization, it is the **Funnel-Web Spider** (family Hexathelidae, genus Atrax), which is one of the deadliest spiders spiders in the world.
* **Grass Spider**: The Grass Spider hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction so fast that some researchers believed it almost borders on precognition, an early awareness of danger. In the novelization, it is the **Crab Spider** (family Thomisidae, genus Misumena).
* **Super Spider**: The scientists at Columbia University fully mapped the genetic codes of each of the spiders and used their DNA blueprints to begin interspecies genetic transmutation. They used synthesized transfer R.N.A. to encode an entirely new genome combining the genetic information from the three spiders into 15 genetically designed super spiders. One of the genetically mutated spiders bit Peter Parker giving him the attributes of a spider.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *Spider-Man*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 3

## External Links

* Spiders on Wikipedia
* Spiders on Marvel Database