Sprawling spider web engulfs North Texas park trail

Chron.com ^ | ap

[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.

[Charles Martel]

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.

A friend of mine suffered from a Brown Recluse bite for a damned long time. I needed no urging to dislike spiders, though - having experienced the "hand-sized-banana-spider-in-the-face" thrill as an 11-year old, riding my Schwinn through the woods.

My friends sure laughed when I, attempting to slap the huge spider away, swerved off the trail and right into a huge briar patch. In the "he who laughs last" department, though, in time I got to see each of them do the "spider dance", too.

I don't hate all spiders. Just the ones in my personal sphere.

Roger that. Even those tiny little buggers that get down in the corners of the baseboards have got to go.

[tioga]

It’s Aragog! LOL

[retrokitten]

Wow! 21 seconds apart! LOL!!

This story really grosses me out. Some spiderwebs can be really beautiful, but this one just makes me want to dry heave.

[Samwise]

[CDHart]

Here in Missouri, we have what we call "mud daubers." They look like wasps, and build nests out of mud. They sting spiders with some kind of paralyzing chemical and stuff the spiders into their mud nests so their baby wasps will have something to eat after they hatch. When I first heard this story, I thought about the poor spiders -

Carolyn

[LongElegantLegs]

spider thread ping

[momf]

We have one of these just outside our kitchen window... do you know what it is? I’ve always just called them “garden spiders”. By the way, we live in Texas.

[momf]

The spiders in the Brownwood area are much more numerous and are spinning huge webs this year, too. Plus we have two that each evening hang up their webs (which I’m careful NOT to get into) in a different location and take it down by morning. That’s been going on for about three weeks now. We’ve also had over 34 inches of rain so far this year...highly unusual for our location.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Most of them are Argiope, there are different but related critters. I love anything that will sit in front of a camera and grin at me!

http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root
http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I had a Brown Recluse bite that eventually got complicated and forced me to retire. That is part of life, I won’t hide indoors with a flyswatter for the rest of my days.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Holy hanging chads on that Florida spider! One of my few visits to FL brought me face to face with one in the woods. I turned and ran quicker than the spider.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

You could have run right into a gator, LOL, got to be calm!

[TASMANIANRED]

I love that..

[BearCub]

unless I identify a particular spider as being a member of one of the two venomous North American species

All spiders are venomous and most can bite humans. Those two are the only ones that are really considered dangerous.

[Doomonyou]

Here's a nice Florida spider for you.

Here's a nice Califonia spider for you!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Same group, they hold their legs paired.

[Doomonyou]

Maybe they’re long lost cousins.

[lowbridge]

Anything that eats mosquitoes is on my team.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

;-)

[momf]

I see horns, eyebrows and a nose, too. That’s neat!!

[PROTESTBYPROXY]

She’s just trying to help.