Spider Haters.....DON'T LOOK!

[Buxom Wench]

I just thought this was really interesting.

Spider Web Engulfs Texas Park Trail

http://i10.tinypic.com/4ozw58m.jpg

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3540678

Sprawling Spider Web Engulfs North Texas Park Trail, Full of Captured Mosquitoes
The Associated Press
WILLS POINT, Texas


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.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

[MaidenFaeSnow]

While I have a fear of spiders and would prefer to be miles away from all of them, (and would physically go nowhere near that thing) I do find it quite amazing! How Hollywood Arachnaphobia looking. I wonder how long it took to become that large... I guess the trail isn't used all that much.

[Lady Sarah]

Wills Point... *snickergigglesnickersnickersnicker*

Now if I could just get my ex-SIL back to her home in Wills Point... :yum: ::whistle::

[Isabelle Warwicke]

Now if I could just get my ex-SIL back to her home in Wills Point... :yum: ::whistle::

Wicked...can we ship my ex with her.

Did you notice that the web is even on the ground. So amazing what nature can accomplish.

[Bonnie Strangeways]

I'm not all that fond of the 8-legged little beasties myself...but that is quite spectacular. I'm the resident spident/insect hunter of the house....Hubby gets the snakes. *shudders* (He had a horrible experience as a child with a tarancula (sp?) and then a very frightening encounter with a sand spider while in Iraq so needless to say..."he doesn't do spiders.") I don't like things that slither. Not much else bothers me other than those, but yeah...I definately don't like 'em....unless they're on my plate! *lol*

[Lady Sarah]

Wicked...can we ship my ex with her.

Did you notice that the web is even on the ground. So amazing what nature can accomplish.

now now.... we need to be nice about those we don't like. (yeah, I had a hard time typing that... if I could, I'd sic Shelob on my ex-SIL)

It's amazing what nature can provide for our amazement. And as ironic as it sounds, while I'm terrified of the 8-legged freaks, I can't pass up stories or articles about them.

Absolutely terrified of them... my neice has scars on her forearm from where I grabbed her during Aragog's appearance during Chamber of Secrets. I still close my eyes during Shelob's scenes in Return of the King. *shudder* but give me a magazine or webarticle about them, I'm all over it. :roll: figure that one out.

[Ysobelle]

I wouldn't mind seeing it, but I swear-- a short guy with a glowing perfume bottle comes outta those bushes, I'm breaking the sound barrier.

[Buxom Wench]

give me a magazine or webarticle about them, I'm all over it. :roll: figure that one out.

It might be because you know its a photo and not something that can/will actually come after you.

I had a pet tarantula, Caine, and I never liked the regular house spiders.
Now try to make sense of that?

[Lady Sarah]

I wouldn't mind seeing it, but I swear-- a short guy with a glowing perfume bottle comes outta those bushes, I'm breaking the sound barrier.

BWAHAHAHAAsnort!!!!

ohhhshit... I just had to put my head down and howl about that one... don't know why, but damn, that made me laugh and my eyes water up...

[WenchLadyKate]

"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."



Music to my ears... Is it just me or are the mosquitos particularly nasty this year?

[Ysobelle]

BWAHAHAHAAsnort!!!!

ohhhshit... I just had to put my head down and howl about that one... don't know why, but damn, that made me laugh and my eyes water up...



Maybe cos you can actually picture my short little legs churning like an old Road Runner cartoon?

[Lady Sarah]

Maybe cos you can actually picture my short little legs churning like an old Road Runner cartoon?

Nope, I think it was because I see Ron Weasely's expression of terror followed by Richard Pryor's voice screaming "feet don't fail me now!!"

yeah... little twisted here.

[Margaret]

yeah... little twisted here.

A little twisted?! Only a little? *snort*

Like Bonnie, although I am not fond of spiders - I am the spider killer in our house. Jon deals with all other critters.

And, even though I am not fond of the little creepy crawlies, even if I came upon those webs in person, I would be more facinated than creeped out.

[Laurensa]

Music to my ears... Is it just me or are the mosquitos particularly nasty this year?


Not just you. I've gotten more bites than in my previous eight years living in PA. (I'm used to them though. Mosquitoes in Michigan have landing lights.)

[surlywench]

Not just you. I've gotten more bites than in my previous eight years living in PA. (I'm used to them though. Mosquitoes in Michigan have landing lights.)

In minnesnowta they come with their own runway crew...if they get bigger as you head west, i'd hate to see the ones in oregon....
oddly enough my ex (who'd lived in iowa his whole life, skeeters aplenty there too...) would get the most horrific looking bite marks from the skeeters in PA while we were living here. I dont know what was different about the bugs in PA, but his skin reacted awfully to those bites!

[Lady Sarah]

In minnesnowta they come with their own runway crew...if they get bigger as you head west, i'd hate to see the ones in oregon....
oddly enough my ex (who'd lived in iowa his whole life, skeeters aplenty there too...) would get the most horrific looking bite marks from the skeeters in PA while we were living here. I dont know what was different about the bugs in PA, but his skin reacted awfully to those bites!

Has it rained a lot recently? Were there a lot of killing freezes this past winter?

We had mosquitos BAD this spring after the rains came through and flooded everything. Now? I think they're all out east at lake tawokoni. :lol:

[WenchLadyKate]

Last night, I got bit so bad. I came back from being away for a few days. I was outside just long enough to stretch, get my luggage out of the car and find my house keys.

By the time I got inside, my legs were itchy, but I didn't have the welts yet. I hit the privy first thing and byt he time I was through washing my hands, the welts had started, and then they exploded. I counted 8. There was one, though, that I should have counted at least thrice. It needed ice and now it's all black and blue. It started out round, but then morphed into a cross and then looked suspiciously like africa. Now, I have a veiny bruise that I'm keeping a very close eye on.

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

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.
"Experts", feh. My money is on it being spun by this guy:

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1692/shelobjm7.jpg

[Ysobelle]

:roll:

Okay, we DID that joke. Dude, you have to be quicker around here!

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

:roll:

Okay, we DID that joke. Dude, you have to be quicker around here!
Sorry, having a real job has started to cut into my surfing time. :)

[Ysobelle]

Sorry, having a real job has started to cut into my surfing time. :)



Are you implying something there, young man?

[rosefaeries]

In minnesnowta they come with their own runway crew...if they get bigger as you head west, i'd hate to see the ones in oregon....



lol I know the mosquitos where I live at, carry their "dinner guests" off in teams of three. But that is only as a courtesy. There are two to carry you off and one to hold your mouth shut so that the neighborhood isn't distrubed by your screams. (Said only half in jest.)

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

Are you implying something there, young man?
No, just that I've been busy.

Anyway... I thought your joke was a Harry Potter reference. :ow:

[Veldrina Vladescu]

OMGs that's gorgeous! I so wanna see what the spiders that made that look like!!!!

Although Wolf is my spirit guide, Spider is def. the next huge totem. I adore them & u can ask Dmitri how i always frantically run to save them...sometimes there's so many in the house I gotta gather them all up & put them back outside. (and we rarely get bit by mosquitos, nor have many bug problems, & we live out in the boonies). :) //\\8//\\

[Lis Elfwench]

OMGs that's gorgeous! I so wanna see what the spiders that made that look like!!!!

Here ya go...a link to a video, including shots of the spiders.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/237/popup/index.php?cl=3907630