South Africa has a rich fauna of spiders with about 3000 known species from 67 families. Spiders are widely feared and much maligned, but they play a very important role in nature and their importance cannot be overstated. They comprise one of the largest groups of land animals. They are common and abundant in every garden and on every farm and important predators in all terrestrial ecosystems. Spiders are also excellent subjects for teaching the young to appreciate nature.

South Africa is richly endowed with many large and beautiful forms and 23 of the more common species of spiders are shown with this brightly coloured illustrative poster:

• Spiders of medical importance
• Species frequently encountered in houses
• Species found on plants
• Common ground dwellers
• Brightly coloured web dwellers

  "This poster could be used to identify the more common species"

The poster will be of value to schools, the general public as well as training institutions.

The poster was designed and developed at the ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute by Elsa van Niekerk (graphic artist), with Dr. Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman as the author.