Agelenopsis aperta
Overview
 
Agelenopsis aperta, commonly known as the desert grass spider, is a species of spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

 belonging to the family Agelenidae. It is found in dry regions across the southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and into Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

This long-legged spider is rather similar to its congener
Congener
Congener has several different meanings depending on the field in which it is used. Colloquially, it is used to mean a person or thing like another, in character or action.-Biology:In biology, congeners are organisms within the same genus...

s but the overall colour is grey rather than the more usual brown. The body length (excluding legs) is up to 19 mm, the female averaging slightly larger (otherwise the sexes are similar).
Quotations

Do you understand, gentlemen, that all the horror is in just this—that there is no horror!

Aleksandr Kuprin|Aleksandr Kuprin, The Pit, translation by Bernard G. Guerney.

I can enjoy her while she's kind;But when she dances in the wind,And shakes the wings and will not stay,I puff the prostitute away: The little or the much she gave is quietly resign'd: Content with poverty, my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

John Dryden, Imitation of Horace (1685), "On Fortune", Book III, Ode 29, l. 81 - 87.

[in Kenya]...any woman who is single and has multiple male sex partners is considered to be a prostitute, whether or not money changes hands.

New Internationalist, Issue 252 - February 1994.

[in India] Any sexual intercourse outside socially acceptable unions is likely to be regarded as prostitution.

New Internationalist, Issue 252 - February 1994.

[In Iran] Under mut'a, it is possible to be 'married' for as little as half an hour.

New Internationalist, Issue 252 - February 1994.

Egyptian law states that a man who is caught with a prostitute is not imprisoned; instead, his testimony is used to convict and imprison the prostitute.

New Internationalist, Issue 252 - February 1994.

Prostitutes are the inevitable product of a society that places ultimate importance on money, possessions, and competition.

Jane Fonda, in Thomas Kiernan, Jane: An Intimate Biography of Jane Fonda (1970).

Prostitution is organized rape.

Christine Stark

 
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