Araneo

The Araneomorphus, or better known as the Araneo or even simply the Spider, is one of the creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved. Additionally, they serve as minions in the Broodmother Arena.

Behavior
Due to their aggressive temperament, the Araneomorphus will attack any survivor on sight. Like most spiders, it produces webs to snare its food and uses venom to subdue them; however, rather than building elaborate webs, the Araneo opts to shoot webs and inject venom into its prey. They are most commonly found in large swarms deep underground.

Appearance
Found deep underground in dark caverns, or around the volcano of Ragnarok and volcanic island of The Center, the Araneomorphus is a nightmarish chimera of various spider species and a mix of fantasy, with enlarged, arm-like pedipalps, 7 eyes, 4 "teeth", a strange box-shaped mouth, hairy bristles spaced all over the body and its 8 legs, stinger-like spinnerets, and strange sac-like structures covering the entirety of the top of the abdomen.

Taming
Araneomorphus is tamed non-violently, rather than through the use of tranquilizers. Since it is a naturally aggressive creature, you must first apply Bug Repellent in order to keep it from attacking on sight. The Araneo will not be tameable if it is trying to attack another creature or is feeding on a corpse, so you must either remove any such distractions from the area or lure it to a more secluded area.

Once you have the Bug Repellent applied and distractions dealt with, place the food you wish to feed it in the right-most slot of your hotbar. Then, carefully approach the Araneo until a button prompt to feed it appears - it will eat the piece of food you give it and a taming bar will appear. It is recommended that you do so in the prone position to reduce the chance of it noticing you and becoming aggressive. You must then wait until it becomes hungry enough to be fed again, and repeat the process. If you accidentally get too close and touch the Araneo, it will become aggressive and attack. In order to continue taming it, you must get far enough away for it to lose interest in you.

Once tamed, the Araneo can itself become a useful tool for taming because of its web attack. Survivors can use this attack to slow down a target animal, rendering it far less dangerous and more manageable.

Locations
Most times of the year, the Araneomorphus can be found only in caves. However, during the ARK: Fear Evolved event, the Araneos spawned in various places above ground.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Araneomorphus.

General
The Araneo is found in caves and has tranquilizing venom, but to a sufficiently equipped player, this is generally not an issue. They have relatively low health and rely on swarming their opponent to overwhelm them with web and venom attacks.

Strategy
Be careful to avoid their ranged attacks. The web attack impedes your mobility and can leave you vulnerable to ambush by other cave predators. Stay nimble and fight back using a ranged weapon, such as a Crossbow. Pikes and Swords can also work in a pinch, but leave you more vulnerable.

Weaponry
Most weapons are fairly effective against the Araneo, with ranged weapons being the most effective. However, most ranged weapons will be incapable of putting down large rushes sufficiently quickly, making a backup melee weapon a necessity. Pikes and Shotguns are effective, as the Pike can keep them out of attack range reliably while dealing substantial damage; the Shotgun, on the other hand, can quickly slaughter the Araneo in tight spaces.

Dangers
The largest danger the Araneo presents is the size of its horde. A single Araneo and its ranged attacks can be a challenge, deadly even, but a swarm can quickly overwhelm even the strongest survivors if they aren't paying attention and get cornered. Watch your Torpor carefully and have an ally nearby if possible to cover you if you fall. Once they spot you they will web you which slows you for 10 seconds Araneo will re web you with terrifying accuracy in under 10 seconds even if you're in bite range which is larger than you would think as Araneo lunge for you when they bite

Weakness
Cave walls frequently create close quarters, so Shotguns are highly effective. Tamed creatures can be a great help for taking on the Araneo - but which ones can be used depends on the size of the cave entrance. In larger caves, creatures like the, , , and even can be used. In other caves, only shoulder-mounted animals like the can be used.

Much like the Spit, Their Web Attack can also be blocked with a shield.

Roles

 * Base Defense/ Guard Dog: Though the Araneo has abysmal speed and rather low health and damage when compared to the majority of creatures, it makes up for this by having a venomous bite which can induce as well as having a web attack that slows enemies down to just 10% of their original speed. Both of these attacks can be preformed very quickly and at any angle, as the Araneo can literally turn on a dime because it has no turning radius, like that of the . These traits make them especially deadly when in tight spaces and in large groups. Once an enemy is webbed, the Araneos can close in to tranquilize or kill their prey with ease.
 * Cave/ Base Turret: The Araneo can also be used as slowing turret that helps defend against rocket rushing; this is especially useful when used in caves in which the units aren't an option since they require sunlight. This can essential be accomplished by overburdening the Araneo and setting it on aggressive as this will cause it to perform its web attack that slows enemies. TIP: try setting them behind tight corners so they can't get sniped out.
 * Anti-Air: Skilled riders can use its webs to kill small flying animals or used to slow down flying animals. Its webs home in on a target, making it a great anti-air mount. When used in unison with an RPG, it's possible to easily kill other players air mounts easier than on foot.
 * Taming Buddy: The Araneo has unlimited bolas in the form of webs, and a torpor inducing bite. Any weapon may be used on its back, and as such they are viable to use in taming a lot of animals. Its body can trap small animals when you walk over them, although this might be a bug.

Notes/Trivia

 * The Web attack can actually have it's damage increased if is increased.
 * The Dossier for Araneomorphus mentions a "much larger Araneomorphus somewhere on the island"; this actually refers to the, one of the bosses in the game. It is quite possible that all Araneomorphus are the children of the Broodmother Lysrix herself.
 * Helena in her dossier also mentions that she is convinced that some of the caves of The Island were dug out by Araneo. How the spiders managed to "dig" out these caves, if it is true, is a mystery.
 * Usually only found in caves, they can sometimes appear in groups on the surface due to a glitch. On maps like Ragnarok or The Center however, they also spawn on the surface in certain biomes.
 * Despite the Dossier saying that they are too small to be used as mounts, Araneos were made rideable in Patch 221.0.
 * Though the Dossier states they have a "poisonous bite" that is technically incorrect as it would be venomous, not poisonous. Venom is injected, while poison is ingested. However, some scientists consider this difference trivial, as some poisons in their composition are far more similar to certain venoms than other poisons and that venom and poison can be delivered by various different species and from wildly different organs and tissues in wildly different ways, sometimes blurring the lines between injection and ingestion. For example, some Lynx spiders and Spitting Cobras can 'spit' their venom at an aggressor which is not quite injected nor consumed when hit at sensitive organs and tissue like the eyes or skin. Regardless, it is important to note that both poison and venom are biological toxins that can dangerously disrupt a victim's body with a cocktail containing proteins, enzymes, and other molecules.
 * Araneae is the scientific name for spiders, the Latin root morphous means "to have the shape of something," amalgam refers to a mixture or combination, and tantibus is literally the Latin word for "nightmare." So Araneomorphus amalgotantibus roughly means "spider-shaped nightmare combination" in Latin, referring to the fact that it possesses features from numerous different families and genera of real-life spiders and that the Dossier describes it as being "nightmare inducing."
 * There is a common glitch while walking up inclined hills or ramps, as Araneomorphus will usually lean forward and perform a sort of "hand-stand," while their faces clip through the ground. Additionally they used to not have any sort of falling or swimming animation but some time ago they gained a rather unholy swimming animation; Araneo now when swimming will struggle with its 8 legs to push itself upward, holding its head up high to avoid swallowing water. When holding still in water Araneo will seem to relax, still holding its head out of water while its legs sink down to a relaxed state; now when falling, Araneo relaxes its body in preparation for impact. They also now have a turning animation in which Araneo pulls toward whatever direction you turn with its front legs.
 * Araneo do not produce.
 * Real world Spiders hunt for their food or wait to catch their food, however Ark's Araneo have adapted to not only hunt and catch their food but adapted to eating spoiled rotting meat and flesh.
 * To add to differences between the Araneo and real world spiders its important to note the difference of the Araneo and its un-spider like mouth and mouth-parts. It appears as though the Araneo's chelicerae are incredibly reduced, while the maxillary plates have grown 2 fang-like teeth to mirror the top, creating a jaw of sorts. The mouth itself is not a small hole concealed under the chelicerae like in real spider species, but rather is gaping and monstrously huge. The whole arrangement of the mouth parts and the mouth is thus incredibly different to any living spider today. Along with that, the Araneo has 7 eyes, something that can only occur as a birth defect or genetic mutation in real spiders, and has weird red and grey sacs covering the back that serve an unknown purpose. All of these features are a testament to the theory that none of the creatures on the Ark are actually descendants or related evolutionary to any organism on earth but rather are genetic fabrications created by the.
 * Even though the Araneo is a supposed mix of many spider species, it cannot climb walls or ceilings like most other spiders can. This is likely due to the Araneo's large size and lack of adaptations to climb (although this still is mysterious considering they live almost exclusively within caves in almost every map making their inability to climb extremely bizarre as they would live within a perfect environment for that adaptation) not only that but Genesis: Part 1 also introduced the which is another larger species of spider that is capable of climbing onto walls and ceilings.
 * Despite what the dossier says about its venom-spitting trait that it shares with the Lynx Spider, the Araneo cannot spit its venom. The, whom is most likely related to the Araneo in some way, is able to spit venom however.
 * Real world spiders use the hairs on their bodies to hear, taste and smell.
 * On Crystal Isles's location Emberfall, tamable Araneos can spawn well over the normal limit of 150.
 * Prior to 316.19, Araneo gender are unrecognizable, only seen as a white name as opposed to pink or blue names representing the gender.
 * According to the dossier, it says there may be a larger Araneomorphus somewhere on the island. This may be a reference to the Broodmother Lysrix or the Broodgenetrix, the boss in ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile