Read the article and watch the short video at the link below,and then answer the following questions.
LINK:http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/spider-genes-put-new-spin-arachnids-potent-venoms-stunning-silks-and-surprising-history
Question 1. Why do researchers think theweb-building abilities of many spiders may have evolved more thanonce? (2 points)
Question 2. What are the three main groups (suborders) ofspiders? What makes each one distinct?
Question 3. Are all three main groups found in New England? UseiNaturalist to identify one spider (genus and species) from each ofthe main groups that are found in New England. Note that not allgroups may occur in New England!
Question 4. What did spider biologists (arachnologists) use toclassify different types of spiders prior to the now widespread useof DNA?
Question 5. What is so unique about Stegodyphusmimosarum?
Question 6. Why have spider genomes been difficult tosequence?
Question 7 . Provide a hypothesis for why black widow possesstoxins that attack vertebrate nerve cells, but related housespiders do not.
