Spiders and Their Kin (Golden Guide) (Paperback)

~ Herbert Walter Levi (Author), Lorna Rose Levi (Author), Herbert Spencer Zim (Author), Lorna R. Levi (Author), Nicholas Strekalovsky (Illustrator) "About 37,000 species of spiders have been named so far, representing what is believed to be about one-fourth the total..." (more)
Key Phrases: funnel weavers, egg sac, leg segments, Dwarf Spiders, New World, Rocky Mts (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Thoroughly updated with accurate information that includes all of the most recent findings in its field. Easy-to-understand information makes this guide an invaluable aid for all readers. Illustrated.

About the Author

Golden Guides first appeared in 1949 and quickly established themselves as authorities on subjects from Natural History to Science. Relaunched in 2000, Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press feature modern, new covers as part of a multi-year, million-dollar program to revise, update, and expand the complete line of guides for a new generation of students.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Golden Books Pub Co (Adult) (January 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307240215
• ISBN-13: 978-0307240217
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,045,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gross but interesting, even to an Arachnophobe, August 9, 2001

By	E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Spiders and Their Kin (A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press) (Paperback)

Last week I woke up when a spider bit me on my forehead. It was a shallow, burning pain rather like someone had injected a weak solution of hydrochloric acid under my skin. About a third of my forehead was flushed red when I first looked in a mirror, but the redness subsided within a few hours, leaving a dime-sized lump that is still visible a week later.

I used "Spiders and Their Kin" to tentatively identify the mangled remains of the spider as a small Brown Recluse (`Loxosceles reclusa'). Just in case I needed to go see my doctor, I put the spider into a baggie and froze it. Luckily, my forehead didn't dissolve---according to the Levis, "In severe cases...the wound grows deeper and does not heal for several months."

At any rate, "Spiders and Their Kin" is a handy book to have around. I bought a copy for my sister when she found what she thought was a Black Widow in her garage, and I also got a copy for myself in order to identify the gigantic black and yellow spider that was hanging head-down in my Japanese Spiraea (it was---or maybe I should say, she was a Black and Yellow Argiope (`A. aurantia').

When I first bought this book, just looking at the cover made me itch. However, it is filled with fascinating little tidbits about Arachnids and their kin. I used to think that Hairy Mygalomorphs were the ugliest spiders on Earth (most especially the ones with ten inch leg spans), but now my vote goes to the Pirate Spiders (`Mimetidae'). Luckily, they are small spiders (4 - 6 mm), so you would have to use a magnifying glass to get the full impact of one of these hairy little dudes.

It is really rather impolite of me to make fun of `Mimetidae,' since they help beautify my backyard by eating other spiders. According to the authors:

"Pirate Spiders invade webs of other spiders. The slow-moving Pirate Spider bites the web owner, which is quickly paralyzed and sucked dry through the legs, one after another."

Sounds like someone dining on crab legs.

The only fault I can find with "Spiders and Their Kin" is that it doesn't go into enough detail on the individual species and subspecies of Arachnids. And that's not a fair criticism to make, since Golden Nature Guides are meant to be used for quick identification, not detailed research.

Now, I've got to work up my courage, venture outside, and try to identify that big brown spider that has built her web from the house electrical line down to the clematis beside the porch door. Her abdomen is wider than it is long, she has striped legs, and she only comes out after dark...

By the way, "Spiders and their Kin" has a useful chapter on `Collecting Spiders.' If you're an arachnophobe like I am, learning more about these critters might be the quickest way to cure yourself.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely helpful for identifying those creepy crawlies!, August 4, 1998

By A Customer

What this little guide to spiders lacks in detail it makes up for in ease of use. For any amateur arachnologist or just someone who wants to know what kind of spider (or other 8-legged critter) is crawling up their wall, this is an indispensable helper. The color illustrations are accurate, the information provided is adequate even for classroom use, and the number of different arachnids included is quite comprehensive for a book of its size.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything but the Hobo Spider, March 7, 2000

By	M. D. Cummings "Marv" (Kanosh,, Utah United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

One day I was walking down the hallways of the elementary school where I work; I saw out of the corner of my eye, something moving rapidly across the floor. The creature looked like it came out of a Star Trek movie. It was straw colored; had long tall legs; and two long feelers that I learned from this book are called: "pedipalps." The pedipalps reached out in front of this creature like they wanted to pull something into its enormous jaws.

I caught the creature, put it in to a bottle, and sat the bottle by my side. I scanned through the pages of "Spiders and Their Kin" and there it was. The creature turned from a Star Trek monster to a windscorpion: E. pallipes, to be exact. This relative of the spiders, I found out, is a voracious eater of insects and such. I figured if it would eat up the insects in my garden I'd let it go--and that's what I did.

I gave this book a four-star rating, instead of a five star rating, for one reason and one reason only. Last November, my wife was bitten by a hobo spider. The spider was carrying a virus that gave my wife a disease called encephalitis. She almost died from the bite, but she didn't, and now she's nearly recovered fully.

I bought the book, "Spiders and Their Kin", hoping to find out more about the hobo spider (Tegenaria agrestis) but all I found were its cousins the "European House Spiders." It would be nice if Golden Guide books would include the hobo spider in future printings of "Spiders and Their Kin." After all, the hobo spider is here to stay.