Despite the visual similarities between the two both are actually members ofdistinct families. Spiders are members of the Arachnid family whilst insectsbelong to the Insect family. So what makes the two families different ?
Well for starters spiders have 8 legs whilst insects have just 6. Insectshave 3 distinct body parts, a head, thorax and abdomen whilst spiders have just2, a combined head and thorax known as the cephalothorax and an abdomen.
As well as the above, other interesting differences include the eyes.Spiders have simple eyes whilst insects have compound eyes. Spiders havepiercing jaws whilst insects have jaws which are more suitable for chewing. Allspiders can make silk thread (although not all spiders spin webs) whilst mostinsects cannot. Spiders can’t fly where as many insects have wings allowingthem to do so.
So yes to the untrained eye there is indeed very little visual differencebut if you look really hard then they’re actually worlds apart.