Araneomorphus

* In Ark: Survival Evolved
* In Real Life

*I don't know where to start with Araneomorphus Amalgotantibus. It has so many of the nightmare inducing traits of spiders from among many family and genus.*
*It fires webbing like a bola spider, it spits venom like a lynx spider. It has a poisonous bite like a myriad of spiders, and can see in the dark by sensing vibrations.*
*And to top it off, Araneomorphus is larger than an adult human!*
*If that wasn't enough, I'm convinced that some of the caves on the island have actually been dug by Araneomorphus, but this worries me. Either Araneomorphus is a colony-spider (like ants), or there is a much larger Araneomorphus somewhere on the island.*
*Domesticated*
*As long as it is kept far from arachnophobics, domesticated Araneomorphus makes an excellent guardian creature for anyone wanting to avoid killing. Their strange web-spraying behavior is also quite helpful while hunting fast, fleeing prey. They are too small to be used as mounts, however...*

The **Araneomorphus**, more commonly known as the **Araneo** or **Spider**, is a medium sized carnivorous invertebrate found on the Ark.

## Appearance

Found in the dark caverns of the ARK, the Araneomorphus (or "Araneo" for short) is an oddity among oddities. As large as a pony, the Araneo does not seem to be related to any particular spider, living or extinct, but instead, appears to be a nightmarish chimera of various spider species. Like all spiders, it produces webs to snare its food and uses venom to subdue them, but the Araneo can also spit its venom and spray its webbing at food. Perhaps their strangest quality is that they are a hive species, like ants, having dug out the ARK's cave networks. It is possible that Araneos are all the children of the Broodmother Lysrix.

## Behavior

Due to their aggressive temperament, they attack on sight.

## Domestication

As long as it is kept far from Arachnophobics, domesticated Araneomorphus makes an excellent guardian creature for anyone wanting to avoid killing. Their strange web-spraying behavior is also quite helpful while hunting fast, fleeing prey. They are too small to be used as mounts, however...

## Trivia

* The Dossier for Araneomorphus mentions a "much larger Araneomorphus somewhere on the island"; this actually refers to the Broodmother Lysrix, one of the bosses in the game.
* Although usually only found in caves, they can sometimes appear in groups on the surface due to a glitch.
* Despite the dossier saying that they are too small to be used as mounts, they were made rideable in patch 221.0.
* Though the Dossier states they have a "poisonous bite" that is technically incorrect as it would be venomous, not poisonous. Venom is injected, while poison is ingested.
* There is a common glitch while walking up inclined hills or ramps, as Araneomorphus will usually lean forward and perform a sort of "hand-stand," while their faces clip through the ground. Additionally, they appear to lack a swimming animation, as their walking animation is used while swimming.

### Trivia not relevant for the game

* Araneomorphus is the only non-event/boss genus in-game to not have a real world equivalent, although an order of spiders known as Araneomorphae does exist.
* Araneomorphus's design appears to be based on early reconstructions of Megarachne, a type of Eurypterid that was initially believed to be a giant spider.
* Araneae is the scientific name for spiders, the Latin root morphous means "to have the shape of something," amalgam refers to a mixture or combination, and tantibus is literally the Latin word for "nightmare." So Araneomorphus amalgotantibus roughly means "spider-shaped nightmare combination" in Latin, referring to the fact that it possesses features from numerous different families and genera of real life spiders and that the Dossier describes it as being "nightmare inducing."