Comments on: A spider web that spans rivers made from the world’s toughest biological material

By: MarcusPinson

MarcusPinson — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:11:45 +0000

can someone tell me if i can buy one or a few a male and female of these spiders or are the to rare to privately own

By: Xenobio

Xenobio — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:11:57 +0000

The river-spanning webs remind me of tunnel traps for catching bats. One of my undergrad professors had an idea that since insects come out of the water -> bats find rivers good places to catch insects -> field biologists find rivers good places to catch bats. I’m a little sad they didn’t find any vertebrates in the Caerostris spiderwebs. http://polillo.www6.50megs.com/bats.html

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:02:18 +0000

@M – It’s unlikely. For a start, Agnarsson actually caught some of the wild spiders and didn’t find any evidence of multiple spinners per web. Secondly, there *are* social spiders who spin communal webs but their webs are very different. They’re messier and more tangled, rather than the neat orb webs of Darwin’s bark spider.

I’ve written about social spiders here: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2008/07/21/social-spiders-do-better-when-hunting-with-relatives/

By: m

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:02:23 +0000

is it possible the spider share’s it’s web?

in that way, such a large web seems more feasible with more than one spider constructing it.

By: David M. M.

David M. M. — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 19:00:15 +0000

They wonder why it is so tough – maybe because if it is so laborious to construct, its best if it requires less repair. A stronger silk means less repair from damage done by wind, birds, bats, etc.

Michael: visit the links in the reference and you’ll find a picture of a web spanning a river. Or check the slideshow above the default image – you’ll find more pictures, including one showing a web spanning a river, and another showing a person close to the web across the “stream” which will give you better idea of scale. Even the one across the stream is pretty big.

By: MEL

MEL — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 21:25:34 +0000

A better armor for American Troops, or a super pair of socks that don’t get holes after a few weeks of use…

By: Daniel J. Andrews

Daniel J. Andrews — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 02:28:09 +0000

Three days ago I was showing my 7-year old nephew and 5-year old niece clips of spiders from Life in the Undergrowth (bola tossing spider, spider catching a cricket using a net, and Hyptiotes). I find it all absolutely fascinating and even my squeamish ‘HELP-there’s-a-spider-in-the-kitchen-get-rid-of-it-HELP’ sister found it interesting. Nephew and niece were quite enthralled to say the least, and he now has a spider sticker book (courtesy of his evil uncle, moi) so no doubt my sister will be having a few “HELP…oh wait…it’s another sticker…” moments.

And the niece is a real bug and worm fanatic…today she dug up a huge earthworm and ran around showing everyone (mom once again was less than enthused but she doesn’t want to quash a budding biologist—I’ve corrupted the kids–insert evil laugh here).

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:31:34 +0000

I want to capture one and get it to spin a web across a mate’s front door as a practical joke.

By: Harley

Harley — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:13:10 +0000

As somebody who is terrified of spiders (for good reason, but that is another story) I can think of many many worst nightmares that are spider involved.
1) Walking through a huge web I did not see.
1) Waking up with spider on me (in view without needing to move)
1) Not noticing a hatching until its too late (on back porch while napping)
1) Never mind the mental effect of actually being harmed by a dangerous spider ( I have black widows and Brown recluses in my back yard).

So, while understanding that this is just semantics, but If I saw that web and recounted it to others, I would have said it spanned a river and was HUGE.

Also kind of reminds me of the Gary Larson cartoon of the spider making a web at the bottom of a playground slide…

By: amphiox

amphiox — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:47:52 +0000

re #4;

Ah, but what was once the “worst nightmare” at the time can be superceded by an even more horrific nightmare later!

So the most recent post is always the accurate descriptor. . . .