spiders Archives

This is what a 4-acre spider web looks like!

November 4, 2014 by Andrew Leave a Comment

This photograph belongs to the Entomological Society of America; Greene and others and was shown by Wired.com. It’s a 4-acre spider web.

It’ll come as no surprise that when the Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Planet discovered this web back in 2009 that they had to call for help. Scientists estimated there were over 107,000,000 spiders living in the web.

They noted;

“e were unprepared for the sheer scale of the spider population and the extraordinary masses of both three dimensional and sheet-like webbing that blanketed much of the facility’s cavernous interior. Far greater in magnitude than any previously recorded aggregation of orb-weavers, the visual impact of the spectacle was was nothing less than astonishing.

In places where the plant workers had swept aside the webbing to access equipment, the silk lay piled on the floor in rope-like clumps as thick as a fire hose.

You can read more about monster web over at Gwen Pearson’s article.

In Pure Spirit

What’s the largest spider web you’ve ever had to deal with?

That time the sky was full of spiders

February 12, 2013 by Andrew Leave a Comment

This happened. Not one for anyone suffering arachnophobia.

The film was taken by a 20-year-old web designer who was leaving an engagement party. Experts are not surprised it happened; this is how these spiders hunt.

Deborah Smith, an entomologist at the University of Kansas who specializes in social spiders told press;

“The spiders in the video are very large and robust,”

“It might be worth looking at Parawixia bistriata, a large, group-living orb weaver, to see if that one fits the bill.”

In Pure Spirit

Is this the stuff of nightmares or nature in full glory?

Are ecologists putting giant spiders in a pool near you?

October 5, 2012 by Andrew 1 Comment

It’s unusual to see conservation efforts for invertebrates but unless you’re arachnophobia the program to save great raft spiders should be good news.

The great raft is the largest native breeding species of spider in the UK and can grow up to 8cm. They are able to glide across the surface of water – and catch fish.

Already around 200 baby great raft spiders have been released into the RSPB managed Strumpshaw Fen reserve by Norwich and hundreds more have been nursed by the Ecologist Dr Helen Smith. Dr Smith received funding from Natural England, the Broads Authority and the BBC Wildlife Fund.

The The Daily Mail adds that in Bristol Zoo, keeper Carmen Solan, raised 170 great raft spider babies by using a tube attached to her mouth to feed them dead flies.

In Pure Spirit

How do you feel about the return of the great raft spider? Would this be a charitable project you would be happy to donate £5 to?

This is what a 4-acre spider web looks like!

That time the sky was full of spiders

Are ecologists putting giant spiders in a pool near you?

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