From Wikimalia
| The Bug Collection
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| Sand Spider
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| Habitat: | Coastal beaches and inland desert regions.
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| Description: | Often mistaken for tiny crabs, these 'sandskaters' come in an extreme range of sizes, with most specimens observed at two to four thums in length (although deep desert specimens are rumored to reach two rands), and a broad variety of mottled earthy colors. Most commonly a mossy tan, this specie has an impressive array of camuoflage patterns and colors. Depending upon age, surroundings, gender and state of agitation, there is virtually no color that their smooth bodies cannot produce.
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| Notes: | Not extremely prolific web-builders in coastal regions that limit viable cycles as to when a web is effective, the sand spiders of all regions inevitably lay a small strandy sheet web horizontally across their trap surface. Generally, the apex of such webs where lurks the spider is usually a shaded and slightly higher elevation than the web's floor, anchored by a stone or other sandy debris. As prey crossing the web triggers an attack, the sand spider's tightly stretched web is severed from the anchor point abruptly. As the web now has a new anchor point, namely the prey, several of the sticky barbed web strands impede the prey's appendages, such as pincers, legs and wings.
Their prey varies by region and by weight contrasts. Voracious hunters, sand spiders don't seem choosy about prey, so long as it is smaller than the spider. They have been recorded as feeding upon baby ground birds, crabs, scorpions, small snakes, and a vast repertoire of insects and small crustaceans.
Sand spiders are fairly common, easily transplanted to non-sandy warm regions, but are still sought by collectors for the variety of their camouflage, with some collections devoted exclusively to this single specie.
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