Darwin's Bark Spider builds world's biggest web

[Crofthulhu]

I don't know much about spiders but my fiance showed this to me this morning, I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to share.

Species: Caerostris darwini
Habitat: Madagascar, alarming arachnophobes and mayflies in equal measure

The spider attaches a line of silk to the tree branch she is standing on, by the side of a river, and bungee-jumps into space. Dangling in mid-air, she begins spewing out silk. And more silk. And still more silk.

Eventually she has released more than 25 metres of continuous strands, which drift away downwind, across the river. Suddenly she stops, and begins reeling the line back in. It pulls taut. Success! The other end has tangled itself in a bush on the far bank.

This is the first step in the construction of the world's biggest spider web, which will hang above a tropical river. Perched in the centre of her vast web, the Darwin's bark spider can feast on huge numbers of insects after they emerge from the water.

Video and more info here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21124-zoologger-the-biggest-spider-web-in-the-world.html

 

[DragonsEye]

I remember seeing this article. Quite cool. If I'm recalling correctly, one rather surprising thing is that this particular type of spider isn't really all that big an animal.

 

[amphirion]

greedy greedy spider. you cant eat them all! XD

 

[Heli]

oh mah gawd!

 

[BigBella]

 

[Heli]

thats a classic

 

[mass]

cute David. Thanks for the chuckle..

 

[DragonsEye]

Farside was a great comic. Pity Larson decided to retire.

 

[Est]

Pretty amazing stuff. Certainly the most extensive orb web I know of. However, there are some communal spiders that make amazing masses of tangle webs covering whole trees. I guess it boils down on how you define "biggest."