What are spiders?

Sydney Brown Trapdoor Spider (Misgolas) male

Spiders are arachnids not insects, but both spiders and insects belong to the largest group of animals on Earth, the arthropods - animals with hard external skeletons and jointed limbs (greek arthro = joint, podos = footed).

Find out more:

• Differences between spiders and insects?
• Relatively speaking - the Arachnida
• Midgets to monsters
• Spider origins
• Living fossils
• The largest 'spider' ever?

Change text size: default text size | larger text size
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2002