this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
1 points (100.0% liked)

Science Memes

15728 readers
125 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 39 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Lucky_777@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Try to keep wolf spiders alive but if you must kill, watch they don't have the hundred babies on their back. If they do....it's nightmare fuel

[–] Botzo@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago

Had a smoke detector going off randomly one night and I pulled it down only to have mama crawl all over my hand as the babies were running around like maniacs, some casting off. Mama still had a bunch on her when I got the smoke detector outside.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 5 days ago

You throw them at your enemies. Spider-bomb!

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

So I'm like 13 years old, climbing a tree at a friend's house. It's a bit of a shimmy up the trunk, I'm well in the air, hugging the tree. I look down at my feet to make sure I have footing before lifting a hand above my head to reach for a branch.

As my head is going from looking down to looking up, just as I am grabbing the branch and hanging from it, I realize that my nose is almost touching a big old wolf spider mama, fully laden with all her children.

DROP

I never climbed that tree again.

[–] LongLive@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Are they venomous or otherwise dangerous to humans?

[–] seathru@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

No, they are spider bros. They kill brown recluses, black widows, and other things that are dangerous. Typically do not mess with humans unless seriously provoked.

[–] remon@ani.social 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I get the sentiment, but black widows (and Theridiidae in general) are quite proficient in taking out wolf spiders and other prowling spiders, not the other way around.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm going to need to see some videos before I can determine who is winning this debate. With heavy metal background music, though I would also accept a David Attenborough narration. With and without the wolf spider swarm.

sigh For completion sake, should probably also check out some videos of each of those spiders vs other things like scorpions, mice, mongeese, non-mon geese, snakes, etc.

[–] remon@ani.social 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I wouldn't recommend those types of videos. These are just the arthropod version of cock- or dog fighting and basically animal abuse. They also don't actually teach you much, since the scenarios don't reflect their actual behaviour in nature.

For example, almost every active hunting spider will kill a black widow if you put them in an enclosed space together. But in the real world the widows would be in her web where something like a wolfspider would get trapped long before getting close to the widow spider.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

To add to what nougat said, because that’s very much the appropriate answer…

All spiders are in fact venomous- it’s part of how they feed. Many species, the venom is not harmful to humans, or only very weakly so. (Wolf spiders qualify as “very weakly so”)

That said, you try keeping a reasonable head when you suddenly come eyeball-to-eyeball with a wolf spiders qualify and her kids.

[–] buffing_lecturer@leminal.space 0 points 5 days ago (2 children)

All spiders are in fact venomous

Are there any exceptions to this? And what about non spiders like daddy long legs?

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

So, true spiders digest their food externally by injecting the venom. They then slurp it up. So the answer to that is "Yes". Some true spiders may also eat the more solid bits, but that's in addition to. but again, many- most- spiders are essentially harmless to humans.

harvestmen (daddy long legs) are venomous and lack the mouth-parts necessary for injection, but they're not true spiders.

[–] kaklerbitmap@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

harvestmen (daddy long legs) are venomous and lack the mouth-parts necessary for injection, but they're not true spiders.

Harvestmen do not possess venom glands.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

Dammit I need to be more careful when posting on mobile. Meant to say not, lol. Thanks for the correction

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 0 points 5 days ago

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/wolf-spider-bite

Seems like it's not even as bad as a bee sting. Spiders are really not very dangerous at all, generally speaking. They're going to leave you alone unless you're fucking with them.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 0 points 5 days ago

When they get spooked they launch their kids everywhere to overwhelm potential predators. Imagine if you squashed a spider and suddenly you were covered in hundreds of tiny spiders?

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Nope. Also, if you coax a momma into your hand, you can throw it at your enemies for a spectacular spider-bomb.

[–] LongLive@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

🏌️🕷️ ——––-----___🎯👤

[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 0 points 4 days ago

Spider-Bomb, Spider-Bomb

Does what ever a… AH! GET THAT THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

One climbed onto my foot while I was brushing my teeth once and I launched myself into the wall behind me pretty hard which hurt. Other than that I don't think so.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

Wow that sounds dangerous

[–] Nikelui@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Since spiders get drunk on caffeine, she's doing a Starbucks run.

[–] 5in1k@lemmy.zip 0 points 5 days ago

Given THC the active ingredient in marijuana, the spider didn’t build a web, but a hammock. Where it would lay all day and watch the caffeine spider go.

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 5 days ago

Walking back home from work at night I cross some fields, I see dozens of them. They are super easy to spot with a headlamp, their eyes shine like tiny glass shards or water droplets.

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 0 points 5 days ago

TIL, it's not so much that we step on them as they they throw themselves under our footsteps...

[–] multifariace@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

First time I saw this was on the beach late on a moonless night. This was before cell phones, so I had to get close in the dim glow from a street light half a block away. They started sprawling.

[–] Redex68@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

My condolences

[–] kalpol@lemmy.ca 0 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Don't make me stop this thorax

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I remember a bush outside my window with the spider in it. Green body, orange legs... I watched her build a web all summer. One day there was an egg in the web. After a while, the egg hatched and hundreds of baby spiders came out and ate her.

[–] Monzcarro@feddit.uk 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.space 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

It's a quote from Blade Runner.
Lemmy, I am disappoint.

[–] remon@ani.social 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Seriously?

I was scratching my head because I couldn't think of any green bodied web-building spiders with orange legs that also practice matriphagy ...

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

Thank you! I saw people sharing their creepy spider stories and immediately thought of this.

Was surprise when it started gathering upvotes seemingly just because people thought it was just another creepy story.

[–] MeatPilot@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

You're reading a magazine. You come across a full-page nude photo of a girl.

[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I found a wolf spider with a bunch of babies in my sink. Scooped it up and put them in the leaf litter outside my house. Normally I never see them inside my house, especially carrying all of the babies.

[–] remon@ani.social 0 points 4 days ago

They are not great indoor spiders but since they are always roaming around they sometimes end up inside homes.

[–] enbiousenvy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 days ago

I can tolerate looking at one single spider. Some of them are even looking very cute.

But one big spider with hundreds mini spiders on top of it looks very disturbing 🫥

[–] devilish666@lemmy.world 0 points 3 days ago