Spiders are voracious predators, feeding on insects, other spiders and even small mammals and reptiles.

They differ from insects in that they have two, rather than three, body regions. These two regions are the cephalothorax — which contains the eyes, mouthparts and legs — and the abdomen.

Spiders have four pairs of legs, while insects have three pairs of legs. They possess modified appendages called pedipalps located in the front by the mouth, which in some species resemble an extra set of legs.

Most spiders have eight simple eyes located on the front of the cephalothorax, but some spiders have fewer eyes. The arrangement of these eyes is often used to distinguish between various species of spiders.

The abdomen is unsegmented and contains the genital structures, spiracles and the spinnerets used to spin silk.

Many types of spiders spin some type of web, and the shape or type of web is often as distinctive as the spider itself. Other spiders are active hunters that move about looking for prey, but they do not spin webs.