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Sprawling spider web engulfs North Texas park trail
Chron.com ^ | ap

Posted on 08/30/2007 2:44:49 PM PDT by Orange1998

WILLS POINT — Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park.

Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't go anywhere near it.

"At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, superintendent of the park about 45 miles east of Dallas. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs."

Spider experts say the web may have been constructed by social cobweb spiders, which work together, or could be the result of a mass dispersal in which the arachnids spin webs to spread out from one another.

"I've been hearing from entomologists from Ohio, Kansas, British Columbia — all over the place," said Mike Quinn, an invertebrate biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who first posted photos online.

Herbert A. "Joe" Pase, a Texas Forest Service entomologist, said the massive web is very unusual.

"From what I'm hearing it could be a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said.

But John Jackman, a professor and extension entomologist for Texas A&M University, said he hears reports of similar webs every couple of years.

"There are a lot of folks that don't realize spiders do that," said Jackman, author of "A Field Guide to the Spiders and Scorpions of Texas."

"Until we get some samples sent to us, we really won't know what species of spider we're talking about," Jackman said.

Garde invited the entomologists out to the park to get a firsthand look at the giant web.

"Somebody needs to come out that's an expert. I would love to see some entomology intern come out and study this," she said.

Park rangers said they expect the web to last until fall, when the spiders will start dying off.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: arachnids; ronpaul; shelob; spiders; spiderwebs
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Here is some additional info.

http://texasento.net/Social_Spider.htm


1 posted on 08/30/2007 2:44:51 PM PDT by Orange1998
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To: Orange1998

Is the name of that North Texas trail “Mirkwood?”


2 posted on 08/30/2007 2:46:28 PM PDT by Skywalk (Transdimensional Jihad!)
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To: Orange1998

No. I hate spiders. My reaction would probably be a liberal use of flamethrowers, then fall back to a nearby ridge and shell the area with napalm and thermite rounds.


3 posted on 08/30/2007 2:46:36 PM PDT by AzSteven ("War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." Jean Dutourd)
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To: Orange1998

WHOA!, Get those Guys a Union Quick!


4 posted on 08/30/2007 2:49:51 PM PDT by cmsgop (Hillary's Milkshake is better than Your's, She could teach you, but you would rather go blind.......)
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To: AzSteven; Orange1998
No. I hate spiders. My reaction would probably be a liberal use of flamethrowers,

Dude! Give the 8-leggy critters a pass. They won't bite you. They wont even get mad if you jack with their web.

They just catch and eat the nasty-damn mosquitos that are carrying blood from their previous victims to you, and flies which are going to lick you with the same organ they just enjoyed a doggy drop with!

Cut spidey a break, wouldya? He just tryin to hep!

5 posted on 08/30/2007 2:51:01 PM PDT by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: Orange1998

There might be several thousand spider webs in my yard any given morning, but one thing for sure is they are social to the extent of carefully avoiding each other.


6 posted on 08/30/2007 2:52:04 PM PDT by RightWhale (It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
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To: Orange1998

The SciFi channel had spider movies all weekend.

Coincidence???

I think not!


7 posted on 08/30/2007 2:52:16 PM PDT by null and void (I hate to suggest something this radical, but why not let the policy follow the facts? ~ReignOfError)
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To: Orange1998

Wow that’s right out of some Roger Coreman movie.


8 posted on 08/30/2007 2:53:09 PM PDT by discostu (indecision may or may not be my biggest problem)
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To: sam_paine

Looks kinda like what those tent caterpillars do.


9 posted on 08/30/2007 2:53:11 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: Orange1998

10 posted on 08/30/2007 2:53:40 PM PDT by Alouette (Vicious Babushka)
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To: Orange1998

Quick! Call Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley !..................


11 posted on 08/30/2007 2:54:05 PM PDT by Red Badger (ALL that CARBON in ALL that oil & coal was once in the atmospere. We're just putting it back!)
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To: retrokitten

Aragon ping...


12 posted on 08/30/2007 2:54:23 PM PDT by null and void (I hate to suggest something this radical, but why not let the policy follow the facts? ~ReignOfError)
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To: Tax-chick; retrokitten; CholeraJoe

Aragog!


13 posted on 08/30/2007 2:54:44 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Orange1998

I don’t enjoy having a spider crawl on me, but mosquitoes are downright dangerous. Therefore, unless I identify a particular spider as being a member of one of the two venomous North American species (i.e. the Brown recluse or Black Widow), I escort spiders outside instead of killing them when I encounter them in my home.

Spiders are creepy (and, to my eye, unattractive), but they perform a useful function: killing mosquitoes. Mosquitoes kill far more people every year than do spiders. Anything that eats mosquitoes is on my team.


14 posted on 08/30/2007 2:55:27 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: AzSteven

http://www.uselessmoviequotes.com/files/nukerip.wav


15 posted on 08/30/2007 2:55:29 PM PDT by Ancesthntr
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To: Skywalk

I bet it’s that damn Sauron again. We run him out of Dol Gulder every 1000 years or so, but he keeps coming back with all his nasty pets.


16 posted on 08/30/2007 2:56:20 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Fight the illegal Mexican colonizers & imperialist conquistadors! Long live the resistance!)
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To: Red Badger

See post #15


17 posted on 08/30/2007 2:56:43 PM PDT by Ancesthntr
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To: AzSteven
No. I hate spiders. My reaction would probably be a liberal use of
flamethrowers, then fall back to a nearby ridge and shell the area
with napalm and thermite rounds.


Some days, I'd say amen to that.
But then nearly losing a leg to a brown recluse bite and subsequent
infection may have colored my perception.

I don't hate all spiders.
Just the ones in my personal sphere.
18 posted on 08/30/2007 2:58:01 PM PDT by VOA
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To: AzSteven

We know how you would deal with spiders, how about snakes.:)


19 posted on 08/30/2007 2:58:44 PM PDT by Orange1998
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To: Ancesthntr; Maximus of Texas

Ping

Post number 15, click the quote.


20 posted on 08/30/2007 2:59:17 PM PDT by tuffydoodle (Shut up voices, or I'll poke you with a Q-Tip again.)
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