Spider Fangs

Sep 18, 2015 • 2:50 PM UTC

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Microorganisms

Matthew Rossi

I'm a novelist, essayist, and a writing consultant. I work in the writing centers at Columbia and Baruch University and explore research into the overlap of maker cultures and writing. My work with the Foldscope tends to focus on finding wild creatures in urban spaces and looking at how human works are shaped by the movements of the biosphere.

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In addition to housing me, my partner, and my cat, my apartment in Brooklyn is home to several spiders. Mostly, we have an ongoing deal that I leave them alone and enjoy the service they provide of eating any other bugs that might dare to come through our door (or windows or cracks in the floor). The ones I see most often are yellow sac spiders, a common household spider who actually (as I understand it) coevolved with people and now live cozily in our habitats.
Though I know many people are frightened of spiders, the ones who hang out around my house fascinate more than frighten me. Ever since I’ve started looking at the world through a microscope, I’ve wanted to observe one of our spiders under mine. Of course, this presents several issues, since I wouldn’t want to kill the spider and also wouldn’t want to be bitten by one.
I was really happy the other day, then, when my partner found the molted husk of a spider’s exoskeleton and brought it to my desk. The exoskeleton was in excellent condition, giving me a great opportunity to take a look at the legs of the spider, as well as its fangs. In order to photograph it, I had to take the skeleton apart and look at each piece individually, since it had curled upon itself. I used a well slide to that the pieces could lie flat with a little bit of depth to them.

The fine hairs growing from the spider’s toes and pedipalps (and truly all over its body) remind me of how aware of their surroundings these creatures are, receiving news from every single vibration in the air. But, perhaps out of a sense of morbidity in my curiosity, its fangs and jaws were the most impressive and beautiful to me.

Seen up close, they look pretty menacing. I can imagine being an ant and encountering one of these. A truly harrowing thought. Yet they give me a pretty great respect for the spiders in my house, hunting with not much more than their very sensitive skin, their claws, and a pair of tiny needles. I still want to try to photograph a living spider, but for now, this will have to suffice.