Giant Spider Web Mystery Solved

Earlier this month, entomologists were debating the odd phenomenon of an enormous spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground for over 200-yards over a trail in a North Texas park.

Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park said the massive web is a big tourist attraction for some, but others refuse to 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."

Now the experts have pieced together what’s going on. Apparently, a variety of spider species are working together to build the massive, sprawling web, according to the entomologists who are studying the unusual formation. What they have gathered so far is that the heavy rains of early summer created fantastic feeding conditions for the spiders, which then began to collectively spin a web that nearly covered an entire pond ripe with mosquitoes and other insects.

"Normally they are cannibalistic and their webs are separated," said Allen Dean, a Texas A&M University entomologist. "They live in harmony [for now] because there's so much food available."

The web covered 200 yards along a trail at Lake Tawakoni State Park, about 45 miles east of Dallas. The late August discovery of the humongous web spurred led entomologists to question its origin and rarity.

Mike Quinn, a biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, collected spiders from the trees and sent them to Texas A&M.

When they arrived, Dean studied the 250 specimens and identified 12 families of spiders in the same web. He said the most prevalent type is from the Tetragnathidae family, which typically weave individual orb-shaped webs.

Arachnid expert Hank Guarisco, of Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., traveled all the way to Texas to see it for himself. He even stayed at the park overnight to observe the spiders by night since some species are nocturnal. He was awed by the variety of spiders contributing to the web.

"Tetragnathidae are usually solitary spiders who build their own webs and mind their own business," he said. "Here they are sharing a lot of foundation strands that are all over the place. They don't have individual webs anymore."

But the masterpiece couldn’t last. Park volunteers are now reporting that heavy rain and wind has already torn down much of the web. But researchers have confirmed that the spiders are still busy rebuilding and weaving fresh webs between the bad weather patches, so the verdict is still out on how long this can last. Quinn said there continue to be lots of egg sacks, which can up to hundreds of eggs.

"The continuing number of egg sacks suggests high productivity, as biologists say," Quinn said. "The females are fat and happy so to speak. They have done well so far by laying so many eggs that the spiders continue to prosper."

Posted by Rebecca Sato