Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman

“If you objected with something like "Yes, nice idea but this involves identification of so many thousands of specimens," she most often reacted with "Is that all, what's the problem?"”

“She mainly told me of the many plans she had for African arachnology. Although she radiated enthusiasm, I had my doubts about the feasibility. Ansie would become the leading lady for African spider studies in the next three decades, which culminated in her election as president of the International Society of Arachnology (2004–2007), the first woman to be honoured with this position.”

“She was the first African biologist who graduated with a doctoral study on spider taxonomy. Later we found out that she was the first to have used pitfalls for spider studies in Africa, and had already proved the importance of these animals in biological control, long before anyone else in the world had even dreamt of it.”

“Spiders are unique in that almost every family or genus has a different behaviour. Just looking at an orb-web that is spun every day gives you some idea of what to expect of a spider.”

“They are masters in the art of camouflage and mimicking. With colour, shape and behaviour they are able to blend in with their surroundings to escape predators.”

“A variety of defence mechanisms, such as whirling of webs, dropping of legs, playing dead, etc. are used to enable them to survive.”

“The ability to lower their metabolism. This enables them to survive for long periods without food or water and to adapt to adverse climatic conditions. This makes them very good predators.”

“The ability to produce venom: all spiders, except one family, produce venom to subdue or kill prey. The venom is produced by a pair of venom glands in the cephalothorax and secreted through small openings on the tip of the fang. Most spiders are polyphagous and feed on a variety of available prey; they are one of the most common predator groups found in ecosystems and have special adaptations towards a predatory way of life.”

“Their most distinctive characteristic is their ability to produce silk. These silk threads are produced in silk glands situated in the abdomen. Silk threads are used daily in numerous ways by the spider, [e.g.] wrapping of prey, to hang from during ecdysis, to deposit sperms on before mating (sperm web), to tie the female down during mating, and egg sac construction. Silk threads are also used extensively to construct intricate traps to catch prey.”

“In houses we find many species that are cosmopolitical, and they have moved with people all around the world. We commonly find some of the jumping spiders feeding on flies and cockroaches, the spitting spiders feeding on booklice, ant-eaters feeding on ants, rain spiders feeding on moths, the daddy long legs feeding on ants and the brown button spiders feeding on bugs. The only problem species in houses is the sac spider and in a few areas violin spiders.”

“Spiders as predators play a very important role as biological control agents. Especially now, when people want crops without pesticides, spiders have a role to play. We have started the red-listing process, but it is not yet completed. The most threatened species will probably be the baboon and trapdoor spiders, which can be affected by the pet trade and habitat destruction.”

“No, most spiders are harmless and they do play a very important part in nature. We market spiders as the "Farmer’s and gardener’s best friend." Spiders are very important predators in crops and they prey on a variety of pest species. Of the more than 2,000 known species of South Africa only a few come into contact with humans and when they bite the wound might need some treatment.”

“Did you know that on a weight basis spider silk is five times the strength of steel?”