#tangle-web spiders

[uncharismatic-fauna]

No Tears for the Southern Black Widow

Latrodectus mactans, more commonly known as the southern black widow, is the most common species in the black widow family. While it can be found throughout North America, they are found most often in the southern United States. Within this wide range, L. mactans enjoys a variety of habitats. They prefer areas that are close to the ground, dark, and sheltered; in the wild this may mean dense brush or under logs, while in inhabited areas they may be found in basements, log piles, or under trash lids.

In addition to being the most common black widow, L. mactans is also the largest member of the family Theridiidae. The females are larger than the males, averaging at about 8-10 mm (0.31- 0.39 in) in length and weighing about 1 g (0.04 oz); however the male's legs are generally longer than the females. Both males and females are black, with small thoraxes and extremely large, round abdomens. The female can be distinguished by the iconic red hour-glass shape on the underside of her abdomen, while the male has 4 pairs of red and white stripes on each side of his abdomen.

The southern black widow is mainly solitary, spending most of its time in or near its web. Only the females live long enough to build a web for catching prey, and are the sole source of black widow bites. While bites do require medical attention, no human fatalities have been reported since 1983.

During the day, females hang in the center of the web to expose the bright red warning on their abdomen; when startled they drop to the ground and play dead. Though the webs they construct are haphazard-- the stereotype of cobwebs-- they are extremely strong and are capable of catching woodlice, millipedes, centipedes, other spiders, and occasionally small mice. Once an animal becomes trapped in L. mactan's web, the spider envenoms its prey and wraps it in a thick cocoon. After the animal dies the spider injects it with digestive enzymes and consumes the resulting fluid. Despite their strong venom, the southern black widow can be victim to several predaotrs; namely wasps, the brown widow spider, praying mantises, and large centipedes.

The southern black widow mates primarily in the spring and summer. Mature males build small webs and deposit semen along the threads. He then coats his mouthpieces-- palps-- with sperm and sets out to find a female mate. To court her, he vibrates the threads of her web until she is receptive. On rare occasions, a displeased female may eat the male. Afterwards, if he survives, the male leaves the females web and dies soon afterwards. From just one encounter, the female can store enough sperm to last her a lifetime of reproductive cycles.

After fertilization, the female builds a small web where she lays her egg sac, which can contain up to 400 eggs. She guards these eggs until they hatch about 20 days later, and immedietly disperse to establish their own territories. Until they become fully mature, at about 90 days old, juveniles have no venom and are extremely vulnerable to predators- including adult black widows. Typically only about 30 individuals from a single clutch survive to adulthood. Once mature, males can live for only one year, while females can live up to three years in the wild.

Conservation status: The IUCN has not evaluated the southern black widow, but due to its large range and population size it is considered stable. It is able to adapt to most habitats, and thus the species' only threat comes from extermination via pest control.

If you send me proof that you’ve made a donation to UNRWA or another organization benefiting Palestinians, I’ll make art of any animal of your choosing.

Photos

Mark Kostich

James L. Castner

Meghan F. Murphy

[vertigoartgore]

2001's Spider-Man's Tangled Web Vol.1 #5 cover by Duncan Fegredo.

[emocheremuha]

dig me right into the hole

if I die here, I won't feel anymore

and my words get all choked up in my mouth

in a tunnel

I'll swell up, filled with doubt

[my twitter]

[nocontextspiderman]

Spider-Man's Tangled Web #13 (2002)

[69slaysoulsister69]

I wish I could see deadpool and wolverine but I read a 250k spideypool fanfic a few months ago that was so good it emotionally destroyed me and seeing wade wilson represented in any other way than he is in that fic would be wrong so unfortunately it’s not in the cards for me

[mokkkki]

i left the cinema of deadpool and wolverine to immediately write a spideypool one shot, this household does not condone cheating 💖

[museincarnate]

The Tangled Web

(A Spider-Man original storyline, featuring @dragvnsovl)

ACT I

Earth-1048: Chinatown District, New York - Near F.E.A.S.T...

Perched upon a rooftop near the F.E.A.S.T shelter, the younger Spider-Man of this New York had managed to distance himself from the crowd on the sidewalk below; their chatter somewhat confusing and bewildering Miles Morales, as what was being said... Just didn't quite add up. Moreover, what it all could mean for himself, and his mentor elsewhere was a perfectly justifiable reason to call said mentor and tutor, even if he was part of something bigger now, and entrusted Miles to take care of the city in his stead... Right? Totally!

"Yo, Pete! I know you're like... Super busy and all, but... U-Uh... I'm hearin' some pretty freaky stuff near F.E.A.S.T, and it might be more than a Spider-Man problem..."

Knowing that Peter wasn't too busy to at least answer a phone call, especially since he said it was still okay to call him for advice once in awhile, whenever Miles got that part of things out of the way, he'd tell the OG Spider-Man what was going on.

Earth-928: Nueva York - Spider Society HQ

Taking a quick breather from helping out Miguel with keeping things under control, so that the future Spider-Man of 2099 could take it just a bit easier since they began their shared endeavor, Peter Parker of Earth-1048 felt his phone buzzing; bringing the screen into view, to see who exactly was trying to contact him. Once he saw that it was his successor and fellow Webhead, Miles, the red and blue clad Webslinger would swipe to answer the incoming call; a jovial tone initially put in his words, to greet his pupil.

"Hey, Miles! What's-" Right off the bat, Miles's tone and rush into why he called had the Queens-born Wall Crawler silencing himself; furrowing his brow as he listened to what the other had to say. 'More than a Spider-Man problem', he'd thought to himself, before the undisclosed details seemed to leave Peter speechless for a moment or two, before he snapped out of his disbelief. "Y-Yeah, Miles! I'll be on my way there in just a sec. Stay calm, and tell MJ to get a hold of Gloria. Maybe we can figure out when this all started. See you soon." Somber in tone, a near-vacant stare and slack jaw were parts of the face Peter now wore, as he ended the quick phone call with the Harlem-born Spider-Man; putting his breather to an end rather early, and turning back around to find Miguel... Urgently.

Once he did so...

"Miguel... Something's going on back home, that Miles just called me about. I know that I promised that he could handle things, and that we'd handle this stuff together, and I'd be right here to take some of the weight off your shoulders but..." A fist clenched, as his breathing became a touch more frantic; unease, heartache and confusion, above all else, laid heavy in his inflection. "Something's wrong, and I need to get to the bottom of it. I'll be back as soon as I can... Promise."

He would only wait long enough to hear what Miguel had to say over the matter, even if it was reprimanding or comforting; Peter's mind being made up from the moment he got further details from Miles Morales, just moments ago. Whenever Miguel would finish speaking, it was likely that Peter wouldn't have anything else to say; probably, then, turning away to use his wrist gadget to open one of those portals to his home: Earth-1048. Still, it would take him a few moments to configure the contraption, since he was in a hurried and stressed state of mind.

[the-tangle-web]

Question, how does one go back to the Avengers tower without being bombarded and lectured by the star spangled Boy Scout for being missing for like a good while without telling them and not contacting them and just sort of making it look like I had died but in reality I escaped from a lab prison after being experimented on and I opted to stay with someone I trusted and all of my friends who I also has a symbiote parasite who also just told me to stop trying to help and ran off to go to whatever and leaves you and your friend alone with some lawyer devil guy and destroyed the door.

[swordmaid]

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[saym0-0]

spidersaaaymmmm <3 ive decided that the original pink suit is almost cute, so ive made it his first real suit from when he was first bitten at like 14. idk how he got the suit but whateverrr not my problem xo. the one on the left is the most recent suit, and the middle is one of the many iterations from before he settled on this current design

[motoroil-recs]

[X / X / X] [X / 🏎️ / X] [X / X / X]

A stimboard for Spider-Man [Marvel's Spider-Man 2] with imagery of spiders, webs, and body stims.

[vertigoartgore]

2002's Spider-Man's Tangled Web Vol.1 #12 cover by artist Duncan Fegredo. The first Spider-Man issue written by ASM writer Zeb Wells.

[artapir]

Stealthed cyberspider, perhaps a "chase car" for the racing spiders, or a vector of rival corporate espionage, or a self-destructing agent deployed to eliminate incriminating evidence of such illegal unsanctioned incursions into a protected extrasolar ecological theatre...?

Midjourney 6

[arcticarthropod]

Lyric cobweaver I think

[mokkkki]

the tangled web we weave, my spideypool fanfic and possibly the best thing i've posted to ao3, has gotten 70k hits and i literally could not be happier about it, so i've made it a playlist of all the songs mentioned in-fic and what i think matches its vibe <3

[the-tangle-web]

“Where are you going?”

A low growl.

The red symbiote turned his head slowly over his shoulder, white eyes pale and teeth bared in a forever smile. He saw a flash of his tongue as he licked his teeth before reaching his claws against the ceiling, digging into the wood and leaving marks with a skkt… crack

Anthony stood still, wearing Gabe’s sweatshirt. He wore if for the past few hours and Gabe hasn’t yelled at him to take it off.

He hasn’t for days.

And he hasn’t stopped Gareth from picking at his bandages.

Anthony had to do that.

They moved out of that damn sewer and into a safe house Murdock dragged them to. Jen has been near them ever since. And Jen hasn’t let Anthony outside alone for the last few months.

She argues he has to go back to the tower. That she should tell someone, at least Rogers. Steve was worried as hell. Fury was pissed, apparently even Tony was trying to get full access of surveillance in the city to try and locate him.

But Anthony refused. He didn’t want to go back. Not yet.

Jen still had to tell someone, so she told Bruce the whole story.

And, despite himself, Bruce agreed to not say a word of where he was. But he did tell everyone at the tower that Anthony was safe, but not where he was.

And that would give him a bit of privacy.

Anthony swallowed the lump in his throat and stuck his chin outward, looking up at the symbiote.

“Where are you going?” He asked, more firm this time.

Carnage narrowed his eyes, a heave of his shoulders and a slight downward tilt of his head.

“To fix things.”

“Without me?”

Carnage turned his head back around, “Yes. Without you.”

Anthony clenched his fists to his sides, “You’re a fucking hypocrite-“

“We are not in the mood for this conversation again.”

Carnage snarled, his claws closing in around the wood until it splintered.

Anthony stopped.

Another beat of silence.

“Gareth said his brother isn’t picking up.”

“We know.”

“We need you, man-“

Carnage shook his head, “Stop it-“

Anthony took a step forward and felt his vision get blurry, “You don’t tell us shit anymore- we don’t see you anymore- I haven’t seen Gabe in forever!” He shouted, “I haven’t seen you sleep, I haven’t seen you do anything but come in and out of that door- and sometimes, you’re gone for days!”

Carnage reared his head back and let out a roar, “STOP IT!”

The symbiote snapped, his head turning over his shoulder and the claw gripping the wooden boards over his head splintered and broke, landing on the ground in between the two as he swung his hand around and turned his body, baring his teeth with in arch in his assumed brow.

Anthony stepped back.

Silence.

“You will go back to the tower! You will take off that suit and when it’s night, you’re going to sleep! You won’t fight, you won’t kill, you won’t hurt yourself, you won’t die!”

. . .

“You will stay alive! Both of you! All of you- and you won’t follow us!”

. . .

The door was torn off its hinges. It was fucking cold.

Anthony felt a pair of arms wrap around his middle and messy black hair over his shoulders. He felt Gareth pressed his face against the divot in his back between his shoulders.

It was a little less cold.

But not warm enough.