Re: how many joints can spiders have in their legs?

Dear Anna,

I like Harry Potter too. Spiders have four pairs of legs attached to the cephalothorax(head area). Each leg has seven segments: coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, and tarsus. (In tarantulas the tarsus appears falsely to be divided so they appear to have eight segments). Counting the connection to the cephaothorax that is seven joints, but in the actually leg it is only six.

In the last Harry Potter, the "spiders" were actually computer generated tailless whipscorpions, probably the species Damon variegatus. These also arachnids, but neither spiders nor true scorpions.

Elizabeth A. Mule

References:

Ubick,D, Paquin, P., Cushing, P.E., and Roth, V. (2004). Spiders of north america. AAS: Lawrence, Kansas

Schultz,S. and Schultz M. (1998) The Tarrantula Keeper's Guide. BARRON'S: Hauppauge, NY