A dangerous neighborhood is a spider with a cross on its back. Where does the cross spider live? Spider with a cross on its back

The cross spider is a representative of the most common species, which is found in almost all regions except northern and southern latitudes. Prefers places with high humidity and is most often found in gardens, fields, among shrubs growing near water bodies, as well as in groves and in forest areas. It can also live on the eaves of buildings and on the facades of buildings.

Characteristic

The cross spider, or crusader, got its name thanks to the spider, which, as can be seen in the photo, is formed from white spots. The abdomen of the arthropod is colored Brown color, has a teardrop shape. The cross has 8 legs, on which supersensitive olfactory organs are located. There are 8 eyes on the head, they are directed in different directions, which makes the view as wide as possible.

This is interesting! Cross spiders have very poor eyesight– they see only blurry outlines of objects. And the senses on their paws help them learn and interact with the outside world!

The male cross spider looks the same as the female. The only difference is the sizes. Thus, females are slightly larger than males and their sizes can range from 16 to 25 mm, the male’s body size is approximately 10-11 mm. Throughout their lives, these arthropods molt several times, and this happens at regular intervals.

Nutrition

Crosses are hunters who are most active at dusk and at night. During the day they prefer to hide in secluded places. Their diet contains:

• flies;
• butterflies;
• mosquitoes;
• vileness, etc.

During a hunt, the crusader spider positions itself in the center of its web and freezes. From the outside it may seem that he is dead. But as soon as the prey falls into the net, the hunter reacts with lightning speed. He quickly runs up to the confused insect, plunges his sharp claws, which are located on the front pair of legs, into its body and injects paralytic poison. After some time, the caught victim freezes. Moreover, in different situations, spiders either immediately eat their prey or leave it in reserve.

On a note! The spider finds out that someone is in the web with the help of its legs - the victim moves, trying to get out, and creates a vibration, which the spider feels!

The cross spider eats quite a lot - the total volume of food consumed per day is approximately equal to its body weight. And at one time he is able to eat about a dozen insects. For this reason, he spends almost all his time hunting, constantly being in the web and waiting for the next victim. A small part of the day is allotted for rest, but even during this period the signal thread is necessarily tied to one of the hunter’s legs.

On a note! The diet of the cross spider does not include all insects. If a victim with an unpleasant odor, someone poisonous or too large gets caught in the web, then the hunter prefers to let the unwanted guest go in this case. He bites through the restraining threads and lets the one he gets caught go!

Reproduction

During the spring and summer, young males are mainly engaged in weaving webs and hunting, trying to provide themselves with normal nutrition. Closer to the mating period, they leave their shelters and move from place to place in search of a female. At this time, they feed extremely poorly, which explains the significant difference in weight between them and spiders.

After the male finds the female's web, he makes several attempts to inform her of his appearance - he carefully steps on the edge, causing vibrations. The female immediately takes off and tries to catch up with the male, thinking that this is another victim. And the male, in turn, escapes along his thread, which he prudently lowers down in advance. This continues until the spider understands who exactly came to “visit” her.

Immediately after mating, the spider tries to hide quickly. However, only a few – the most efficient – ​​manage to do this. Most die from the venom of the female. This period occurs around the end of summer or beginning of autumn.

The fertilized female lays a clutch. She places the eggs, of which there can be about 300-800 pieces, in a cocoon tightly woven from a web and carries it on herself for some time. Then the spider finds a suitable shelter, where it leaves the clutch. Often such a place becomes the bark of a tree that has fallen away from the trunk, cracks in the wood, fallen leaves, etc. The eggs are stored there until spring. At the same time, the future offspring are absolutely safe in the cocoon - it is warm and does not get wet.

As the weather warms up, small spiders emerge from the eggs.

After birth, young crossbills need a sufficient amount of food, but the territory where they first saw the world is not always capable of feeding them. Therefore, it is important for spiders to leave this densely populated area as quickly as possible, otherwise many of them risk being eaten by their own brothers or simply dying of hunger. However, these arthropods are not capable of moving long distances on their own, since their legs are very poorly developed. Often they are carried by a fair wind - the spider waits for windy weather, clings to its web and thus flies from place to place.

This is interesting! The web helps the cross spider to overcome very impressive distances - sometimes about 400 km!

Considering the above, it is easy to calculate how long the cross spider lives. In the spring, the young hatch from the eggs, and in the fall they mate. Males in most cases die immediately after they fertilize the female, and spiders a little later - they spend several weeks near the hidden cocoon and, having fulfilled their parental duty, die before winter arrives. It turns out that nature does not have so much time allotted to the cross - only 6-8 months.

Toxicity

Is the cross spider dangerous for humans? Its venom is toxic to us and about five minutes after the bite you can experience the following unpleasant symptoms:

• sharp headache;
• slight increase in body temperature;
• slight weakness;
• discomfort in the joints;
• itching and tingling at the site of the bite;
• subcutaneous hemorrhages are possible.

On a note! Often, after a bite, only a local reaction occurs, which manifests itself in the form of reddened and somewhat hardened swelling. But sometimes the consequences can be more serious. IN in this case it depends on the immune abilities of the human body!

The bite of a cross spider is not fatal, however, despite this, it is advisable to avoid contact with it. If he does bite you, then first of all, the affected area should be thoroughly washed with soap, which will help prevent additional infection. Next, you need to apply something very cold to the bite site, ice if possible, and treat it with anti-inflammatory ointment.

Important! If a child is bitten by a cross spider, then calling an ambulance is mandatory!

In order to avoid contact with the cross spider while relaxing in nature, you should always close the tent at night, and if it has windows, then you need to put mosquito nets on them. In the evening, be sure to inspect your sleeping area, and it is advisable to take out all the rugs and blankets and thoroughly shake them. When walking through the forest, always avoid woven webs, and if you notice a cross spider very close by, then under no circumstances pick it up.

Similar rules apply to staying at a tourist base and even at a dacha. Upon arrival, you should inspect all the rooms for the presence of a symmetrical cobweb, and if one is found, it must be immediately carefully removed with some long object. In this case, it is advisable to protect your hands with gloves.

The cross spider, or Araneus, belongs to the orb-weaver family, a genus of araneomorphic spiders. In total, there are more than 1000 species of representatives of this genus in the world, but in Russia and the CIS countries you can find from 15 to 30 species. Crosses live mainly in damp and damp places - in fields, meadows, forests, along the banks of reservoirs and rivers.

The structure of the cross spider

The size of the male is 10-11 mm, the larger female is 17-26 mm. The cross has 8 legs and a large rounded abdomen. On the upper side of the spider's abdomen, white or light brown spots form a semblance of a cross, hence the name of the spider. The cross spider has 4 pairs of eyes, like most spiders; they look in different directions, providing their owner with a fairly broad horizon. However, spiders see poorly, they are myopic and distinguish mainly shadows, movement, and the contours of everything that surrounds them.

Features of the cross spider

Spiders are dioecious animals. After mating, the male dies, and the female begins to weave a cocoon from the web for eggs, which she usually lays in the fall. The cocoon turns out to be quite dense; the female carries it on herself for some time, and then hides it in any safe place - in a crack in the bark of trees or behind a loose piece of bark. In spring, young (juvenile) spiders emerge from the cocoon. They become sexually mature by the end of summer, after which the female that gave birth to them dies.

In the first days of his life, the male cross spider also builds a web - he needs to eat something. But upon reaching maturity, he begins to wander in search of adventure and, of course, noticeably loses weight. During this period, he is driven by only one desire - to find the female’s web.

When the female's web is found, he makes every effort not to get to her for lunch. To do this, he weaves a thread for himself down from the edge of the web - for retreat. Then he carefully tugs the thread. The female immediately rushes in search of prey, and the male retreats down the rescue thread.

This is repeated several times until the female understands that it is not the prey who is pulling the web, but her long-awaited partner. Then she changes her anger to mercy, and the spiders mate. But the male cannot let down his vigilance, because... after mating, the hunting instinct awakens in the female again. If he does not escape in time, he may well be eaten.

Reproduction of the cross spider

The cocoon, which the female weaves in autumn, contains from 300 to 800 amber-colored eggs. Under the protection of the cocoon, future spiderlings are not afraid of either cold or flood - it is very light and does not get wet. The eggs wait out the winter in the cocoon, and in the spring small spiders emerge from the eggs. For some time they sit inside the cocoon, afraid to leave such a cozy refuge. But gradually they spread out and begin to live on their own.

It is clear that it will be very difficult for such a huge offspring to get settled in life. Competition is very high, some will die of hunger, and others will be eaten by their relatives. Therefore, the young spiders face a serious task - to disperse as quickly as possible in order to increase their chances of survival.

Their legs are small and weak, so the spiders move, gliding with the help of their web, like real aeronauts. With a fair wind, a spider can fly a distance of 300-400 km. When the wind subsides, the web falls to the ground, the spider throws it away and begins to settle in a new place. If he is lucky with the site, he will be able to catch up to 500 insects per day with his nets. The hunt is on constantly.

According to naturalists, millions of spiders live in meadows, fields and forests, destroying entire legions of insects, including those dangerous to humans and their households. If it were not for spiders, the number of flies, mosquitoes, gnats, midges, moths and aphids would be several orders of magnitude greater and could seriously poison our lives. Experts do not even rule out the possibility of using spiders in biological control with pests.

Web of the cross spider

Cross spiders catch their prey using webs. More precisely, their females - male spiders do not weave webs. Female spiders guard their prey either in the center of the web or sitting next to it, on a signal thread. Mostly flies or mosquitoes get caught in the web. If it comes across prey that is too large and inedible, for example a wasp, the spider can free it by tearing off the web.

The spider either eats the caught prey immediately on the spot, or, if it is not too hungry, drags it into a secluded corner or entangles it in a web. Around the web, under the leaves, you can find a whole food warehouse of flies entangled in the web, stored for a rainy day.

The behavior of the cross spider

How does a spider hunt? When a fly or any other insect gets caught in a web, the spider feels a vibration catcher net, it approaches the victim and kills it with the bite of its poisonous jaws, or chelicerae. The fly stops shaking the web, and the spider calmly swaddles it with a bundle of thin threads, pulling them out of the abdomen with a pair of its legs.

Having snacked on the surrounding threads, the spider takes its breakfast and goes to the center of the web to have a meal. He crushes his prey, injecting digestive juices into it. When the fly has digested inside its shell, the spider sucks up the semi-liquid contents into which the fly has turned and throws away the victim’s skin. During a successful hunt, a spider can eat about a dozen flies in one sitting. The venom of cross spiders is dangerous only for small insects; it cannot harm humans.

Habitat of the cross spider

Crossworts live mainly in the crowns of trees, make a secluded shelter from the leaves, and stretch the web between the branches. The wheel-shaped web can be found in a forest, grove or neglected garden. Sometimes it can be found in bushes or in window frames and under the eaves of abandoned houses.

The trapping web constantly requires repair, it is destroyed by both small and large insects, so every couple of days the cross spiders unravel the web and make a new one. They usually do this at night, and by morning the new web is ready for new prey. Thus, at night the spider is relatively safer, because its natural enemies, insectivorous birds, sleep at night. It doesn’t need light to build a web, it’s good enough developed sense touch.

The enemies of the cross spider are also flies and wasps, which lay eggs in the bodies of their victims. For example, the fly Melanophora rugalis - taking advantage of the spider’s immobility, it can fly up to it, sit on its back and in the blink of an eye lay an egg in its body.

Web of the cross

The web of the female cross has exactly 39 radii, 1245 points of attachment of the radii to the spiral and 35 turns of the spiral - no more, no less. The webs of all spiders are as similar to one another as two peas in a pod, because all the necessary data is genetically enshrined in their heredity. Therefore, even small spiders know how to build webs and catch prey.

Any web is not only beautiful in its symmetry and delicacy, it is very rationally arranged. All the threads that form it are very light and, nevertheless, very strong, and are connected in such a way that they only work to break.

How does a spider manage to build such an even, symmetrical web that is several dozen times larger than itself? A spider (more precisely, a cobweb), having climbed onto a branch or tree trunk, releases a long web thread from its abdomen. It is picked up by a stream of air, and the spider waits patiently until the thread catches on something suitable.

If this does not happen and the thread hangs, the spider pulls it towards itself and eats it. Then he runs to another place and tries again. And so on until the thread is caught. Then the spider crawls to the hooked end of the thread and secures it well. Then it descends on its thread to some support. There he also firmly fastens this thread - now 2 threads are already fastened.

The spider returns along the second thread and drags along the third, which it secures at the starting point, i.e. where the first thread came from. The triangular frame - the basis of the future web - is ready. Inside this frame, the spider stretches several threads that intersect in the center. The spider marks the center of the web with a lump and begins to extend all its numerous radii from it, fastening them with a spiral thread, and then lays trapping threads. At the intersection points of the spiral and the radius, the spider binds them with its legs.

Note that the angles between all radii and the distance between the turns of the web are strictly constant values. How can such a little creature manage to maintain your web in strict accordance with geometry? For this you need at least the simplest measuring device. And, imagine, the spider has it! This is his first pair of legs that can act as a scale ruler.

While working on the web, the crossmaker regularly checks the distance between the spirals. His natural tool is so precise and reliable that it allows you to work in pitch darkness. The last step in creating a web will be a signal network, the end of which is laid to the spider’s shelter. It takes a spider several hours to build the entire web. painstaking work and about 20 meters of web.

From a chemical point of view, the web is a complex protein polymer - fibroin. The many glands of the spider's abdomen form this viscous liquid, which quickly solidifies in air in the form of thin filaments. A spider can produce several different types cobwebs with different properties. For the frame of the web he makes a dry and thick thread, for the cocoon - silky and soft, for the catching spiral - thin and sticky. Why doesn't the spider itself stick to its web? Everything is very simple - he runs only on non-adhesive threads, and diligently avoids touching adhesive spirals.

The polymer liquid comes out from the glands on the spider's abdomen through thin tubes and hardens into very thin threads. If the spider needs special strength, it can weave several of these threads together. Scientists in last years They are seriously studying the properties of spider “silk”. It turned out that it has many unique properties.

The technology for producing spider web threads is similar to the production of synthetic fibers. But in terms of strength, no synthetic fiber can compare with spider fiber - it can withstand loads of up to 260 kg per 1 sq. mm, which is stronger than steel. This is why residents of the tropics make nets from spider webs to catch birds, bats, insects, and even weave fishing gear.

The web is so elastic that it can stretch up to 30% of its length and shrink back to its original length. Its lightness and subtlety are involuntarily amazing, because 340 grams of web is enough to encircle Earth along the equator!

The use of cobwebs in agriculture and medicine

People have long tried to make fabric based on spider webs. In Germany, back in the 16th century, ribbons and various decorations were woven from cobwebs in villages. Then in France, artisans came up with the idea of ​​​​making gloves and stockings from spider webs, which caused complete delight among fashionistas.

But it turned out to be impossible to launch this technology into large-scale production, and this was convincingly proven by the physicist and zoologist Reaumur. For such production to become profitable, it is necessary to contain and feed hundreds of thousands of spiders. But to feed them, it would be necessary to catch several million flies every day, which was completely impossible to implement in practice.

However, people still use the web, even today. For sights (crosshairs) in various optical instruments (microscopes, telescopes, sights, etc.), spider webs are simply ideal. Microbiologists have also found use for it, developing a unique air analyzer using it.

The cross spider is launched onto a special frame, fed, and the spider weaves its web based on this frame. Then air is pumped through a frame with a net, and the thinnest web perfectly captures the microbes that are in the air. This method of air analysis has been recognized as the most effective of all existing in the world.

IN folk medicine Since ancient times, spider webs have been used to disinfect open wounds. Research has confirmed that spider webs kill pathogenic bacteria, and with its help, drugs have been developed that are harmless to animals, but deadly to all kinds of bacteria. As you can see, the cross spider is extremely useful for humans, in every sense.

Basically, the cross spider can be seen near bodies of water, in wet grass and in any other place with high humidity: it really loves dampness. This arachnid belongs to the family of orb weavers, but unlike its relatives it behaves like a hermit and does not tolerate other arthropods.

This species is characterized primarily by its coloring corresponding to its name.

Description and characteristics

Perhaps everyone has seen the cross. The spider got its name from the characteristic pattern on its back in the form of a cross. The crusader spider can have different colors, this will depend on the place in which it lives. If it is a sunny place, the creature burns out and turns pale brown. If the spider lives in a dark forest, then it has a bright orange color. It is this feature that often helps him hide from possible pests such as birds and flies. The latter, for example, lay their eggs in the body of the arthropod.

In this video you will learn more about cross spiders

The size of these arachnids depends on gender. The length of an adult female is approximately 20-25 mm, but the male does not even reach 10 mm. During molting, when the arthropod has a chitinous cover, increased growth of the body begins.

The size of this species is very small; it is rare to find an individual longer than three centimeters

Besides, external structure The cross spider includes 8 walking legs, at the end of which there are sharp claws (3 pieces on each leg). There are 4 black eyes on the small head, which help the arthropod to hunt successfully even at night. The eyes react exclusively to movement.

The body of the crusader is completely covered with small hairs. This coating replaces the sense of touch: the villi are able to sense any air vibration, even the most insignificant and weak.

Most often, the common spider is active at night. During this period, they weave their web and hunt for prey. But you rarely see them during the daytime; usually at this time they hide in the grass or foliage of trees.

Life cycle and reproduction

This species of arthropod is divided into two sexes, that is, there is a female and a male. In mid-August, the couple begins their mating season. How long a cross spider lives depends entirely on its “half”. The fact is that usually after mating the spider eats its partner. But there are times when the male is saved, although this happens extremely rarely.

After fertilization, the uterus begins to weave a web into which it lays eggs. She either carries the woven cocoon with her or hides it somewhere in the vegetation and carefully monitors it, not letting anyone near it.

Female crossworts are very sensitive to their offspring, strenuously protecting them in initial stages growth

Eggs are laid in the fall, and spiderlings hatch from them in the first months of spring. Small arthropods grow very quickly and reach sexual maturity by summer. At this time the spider also dies.

The male individual pre-weaves a web through which he can escape. Moreover, he can walk to the female along this web several times until fertilization occurs.

On average, a queen can lay up to 800 eggs. They tolerate it well winter period and already in the spring, as soon as warming sets in, they begin to hatch. When the weather stabilizes, they leave their cocoon and begin to lead a solitary life until puberty.

Composition and nutritional standards

Crusaders, like other species of spiders, have an external type of digestion. The spider feeds only on small insects, since large individuals are very dangerous for it.

Their The food is quite varied and may consist of the following:

• various midges:
• flies;
• grasshoppers;
• bees;
• mosquitoes

The main food of the cross is small insects

To catch its prey, the spider uses its trapping loop. If you get caught in a web large insect, he breaks the threads and releases the victim. He eats the small midge immediately or hides it in reserve, but first wraps it in a cocoon so that others do not feast on it.

The hunting process of the cross spider is quite interesting. Having weaved his web, he hides in the grass or leaves and waits for the victim to fall into the loop. The prey in the loop begins to beat, the threads of the web oscillate, and the spider receives a kind of signal.

Having pierced the victim, they inject their digestive juice into it and wait for the prey to dissolve, after which they can only suck out the contents.

Many people have heard stories about poisonous properties Crusader, but in reality this is not the case. The poison of the cross is absolutely safe for humans; it only affects certain insects. In extreme cases, it can cause unpleasant itching or burning.

Beneficial features

Few people know that arthropods are beneficial environment. For example, a spider eats a large number of harmful insects - carriers of infectious diseases.

There are other benefits from spiders:

There are more than 2000 varieties of crosses, only 30 subspecies can be found in the vastness of Russia. They differ only in appearance, but their vital functions are almost identical.

The cross spider, also known as the crusader, araneus, belongs to the family Araneidae. There are 621 species in the genus of crosses. Spiders live all over the world and are common in our area. You can meet a predator everywhere - in the forest, field, edge, park, vegetable garden, yard, outbuildings. Often crawls into the house through cracks in the walls, open windows, doors.

Description and photo of the cross spider

The body size of females is from 20 to 40 mm, that of males is 10 mm. Consists of a round convex abdomen, cephalothorax. Body covered strong shell, legs - with villi. The crusader spider has 10 limbs, of which 4 pairs are walking legs. The front ones perform the functions of claws - they capture the prey and hold it while feeding. The paws are symmetrical to the size of the body. The structure does not differ from the typical one. The cephalothorax is connected to the abdomen by a thin bridge.

How many eyes does a cross spider have - 8. Placed on the front of the head. 6 in the center, 2 large on the sides. This provides a broad outlook, but does not provide good vision.

Interesting!

The spider is myopic, sees everything in general outline– movement, shadow, silhouette. The organs of smell and touch help the cross to navigate in space. Located on the legs. Finding itself in an unfamiliar place, the spider carefully probes the space initially with its paws and then moves.

What a crusader looks like depends on the species. The body structure is the same, but the color is different.

• The meadow crossweed lives in places with moist air, warm climate, dim light. Painted in brown, yellow, red tones. On the belly on the upper side there are white spots in the shape of a cross. Thanks to this identification mark, all species of araneus are called crosses. Meadow predator on the grass, hunts small insects.
• The forest cross differs from the garden and meadow in its darker color. The body is dark brown with white stripes. The characteristic white or brown sign of the cross is clearly visible on the abdomen. The paws are long. The largest cross in Russia. The size together with the leg span reaches 4 cm.
• The Far Eastern cross is different large sizes. Habitats: forest, field, meadow. The color is brown with different shades. The cross on the abdomen is white or yellowish. It weaves the largest web, which reaches 2 m in diameter. Even frogs, toads, and snakes can become entangled in strong webs.
• An orange or yellow spider with a cross on its back is an ordinary crusader that lives in shady places in forests, fields, meadows, and gardens. Araneus angulatus is a rare species listed in the Red Book. Body size is about 18 mm.
• The predator with a red cross on its back is a type of meadow cross. Bright spots scare off enemies, but do not mean that this representative of the genus is more poisonous.
• A black spider with a white cross on its back is a crusader that lives near swamps, in the forest, in fields, and rarely approaches a person’s house. Outwardly it resembles a tegenaria.

What a cross spider looks like depends on the species, but what distinguishes them from other representatives of arachnids is a characteristic pattern on the back in the shape of a cross. This is where the name came from.

Where does it live?

The species is distributed throughout Europe, some varieties live in North America. Favorable conditions existence is high humidity, heat, lack of direct sun rays. Ideal habitats are coniferous forest, swamps, edges, hedges. Less often they settle in meadows, fields, gardens, vegetable gardens, outbuildings, and residential buildings. There are about 30 species of crosses living in Russia and the CIS countries.

On a note!

Once in a person’s house, the spider chooses places away from noise and light. Occupies corners at the top of the room, below behind the furniture. Weaves a web. It feeds on “domestic” insects – , . To get rid of a spider with a cross on its back, you need to remove its web, throw it outside, and poison the “living creatures.”

Lifestyle

Common cross spider – resident wildlife, but under certain circumstances. Leads night image life, during the day it sits motionless in a shelter or on a web of webs. He weaves it at night. It makes a shelter out of leaves and builds trapping nets between the branches.

Experts managed to find out how the female cross weaves a web. The network consists of 39 different radii, which expand as they move away from the center, 35 spiral turns, 1245 points of contact of threads. The radius of the web of the large Far Eastern cross reaches up to 2 m.

Interesting!

At night the female weaves a net, and during the day it catches prey. The spider eliminates the damaged areas and forms new coils in their place. Natural enemies There are birds, but with the onset of darkness their activity decreases. The cross can work quietly.

The lifespan of a spider is theoretically 2 years. IN natural conditions it is somewhat shorter. How long does a cross spider live? pet, depends on proper care. Quietly lives up to 2 years.

Nutrition

The main diet consists of insects of different sizes. The spider's trapping nets catch flies, wasps, hornets, grasshoppers, locusts, caterpillars, and butterflies. Snakes, frogs, toads, and mice get entangled in large, strong webs.

Internal digestive system absent, liquefaction of food occurs externally. The spider bites the victim, injects poison that paralyzes the muscles and immobilizes the prey. The cross releases saliva into the insect’s body, envelops it in a web, and waits for several minutes. In 5-20 minutes, the insides of the prey turn into a liquid mass, which the predator sucks up.

Reproduction

The mating season begins at the end of summer. The female waits for the male on her web and senses his approach by the vibrations of the web. After fertilization, it spins a cocoon and lays up to 250 eggs inside. He carries it with him and then leaves it in a secluded place. The young animals spend the winter in this state. Spiders are born at the end of April.

The maturation period lasts several months. During this time, the nymphs molt about 5 times, increase in size, and acquire a characteristic color. By the end of summer they become sexually mature. Caterpillars serve as food for the young animals.

On a note!

How adult spiders overwinter - they hide in cracks in walls, utility rooms, forest litter, tree hollows. They become active as air temperatures rise in spring.

Poisonous or not crusader

The poison is toxic to invertebrates and vertebrates. It has an effect on the body of rats, mice, humans, and rabbits. Sheep, horses, Guinea pigs, dogs are resistant to poison. For insects and invertebrates, a crusader attack is fatal. Animals experience temporary deterioration in well-being and external irritation.

The Crusader is not dangerous to humans. When it sees people, the spider tries to hide unnoticed. However, in the event of a threat to own life may bite. There are 2 small spots left on the body. Initially there is pain and burning. The next day, suppuration occurs. In people with weakened immune systems, children get worse after general health. Weakness, nausea, headache, dizziness, and abdominal discomfort appear. The condition returns to normal in a few days.

In our area one of the most prominent representatives arachnids is the cross. About 30 species live in Russia. They differ in color and slightly in size. Characteristic feature is the presence of a cross-shaped pattern on the abdomen. Whether the cross or crusader spider is dangerous for humans remains to be seen.

Description of appearance

1. Rinse the wound under running water.
2. Lather up laundry soap, leave for 5 minutes, rinse.
3. Wipe the bite area with alcohol or a tincture based on it.

If you have to act in the wild, use improvised means:

• vodka;
• lemon, orange juice;
• juice of celandine, plantain, dandelion;
• saliva.

On a note!

To relieve swelling, apply ice cubes and a cold compress. You can eliminate itching, burning, and also disinfect the damaged area with a paste made from baking soda, vinegar solution, shaving foam, toothpaste.

In the future, to speed up therapeutic effect use cream, ointment with an antihistamine effect based on medicinal herbs, special substances. The wound is treated 2-4 times a day until the condition of the skin improves. The condition returns to normal within 3 days.

Use:

• balm Zvezdochka;
• Psilo-balm;
• Fenistil gel;
• calendula ointment;
• Menovazin;
• Advantan.

If the wound gets infected, ulcers appear, treat with local antibiotics - Levomekol, Tetracycline ointment, Elokom S.

To eliminate general allergy symptoms, take an antihistamine orally - Fenistil drops, Claritin, Diazolin tablets, El-Cet, Eden, Suprastin. Treatment continues for 3 days without consulting a specialist. If the condition does not return to normal, you should consult a doctor.

The cross rarely bites, but be aware of possible consequences A must for every nature lover. Prompt first aid will help avoid serious consequences.