These animals are true survival artists! They tolerate the dry, nutrient-poor but frost-free climate in houses and have been spread across all continents by humans. The same house spiders can be found on most continents. Many of the native species originally come from the Mediterranean region or from overseas. The newly published book “House Spiders – Worldwide” sheds light on the unique way of life of these eight-legged creatures, which have adapted to life in and around our buildings.
Useful, refined, self-sacrificing
The authors Wolfgang Nentwig, Jutta Ansorg, Paula Cushing, Yvonne Kranz-Baltensperger (scientist at the NMBE) and Christian Kropf (former Head of Invertebrates at the NMBE) show how useful these often feared animals are for us humans: They keep pests such as mosquitoes, silverfish and cockroaches at bay without chemicals and free of charge. The book also provides fascinating insights into the biology of spiders: from sophisticated hunting techniques and bizarre mating strategies to spiders that feed exclusively on other spiders and spectacular cases of maternal self-sacrifice, in which spider mothers sacrifice their lives for their offspring. Around 50 of the most important species and species groups are presented with profiles, photos and distribution maps.
All proceeds from the book will go to the Association for the Promotion of Spider Research in Bern. An English edition will be published in the next few days to make the findings on house spiders accessible to an even wider audience.
If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Dr. Christian Kropf, Head and Curator of Biosciences at the Natural History Museum Basel, +41 61 266 55 44, christian.kropf@bs.ch.
