Why are these trees completely wrapped in spider webs?

[The Straight Story]

Why are these trees completely wrapped in spider webs?

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Spiders have been a plague on the earth ever since they marched their eight feet out of hell. In some areas, spiders have been known to cocoon entire trees. And it turns out there's a benefit to their efforts.

One such giant spiderweb site was found near Lake Tawakoni in Texas. Webs of long-jawed orb spiders stretched out over several trees. The superindendent of the park had this to say, "At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland. Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes it's turned a little brown...you can hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs." What a fun way to spend a night! A bottle of wine, a picnic blanket, your sweetheart, and the panicked death-screams of millions of insects.

Another such site of eight-legged horror has just sprung up in Sindh, Pakistan. Heavy rains caused destructive flash floods late last year. These floods left many people homeless. Over time, the waters level went down, but much of the ground is still covered in pools. The area's spiders, unable to make their webs on grass or low-lying bushes, took to the trees by the million. They completely encased the trees in the area - and many people believe this is a good thing. The pools of water left on the ground are an ideal breeding ground for mosquitos. Despite such fertile spawning areas, there haven't been as many mosquito bites as would be expected. The spider-trees, scientists believe, are massively cutting down on the local mosquito population and reducing the number of cases of malaria.

http://io9.com/#!5785596/why-are-these-trees-completely-wrapped-in-spider-webs

[petronius]

1. Mosquitoes can scream? That's a cheery thought, actually...

:)

[FLPanhandle]

23. +1

Death to the Mosquitoes!

[Poll_Blind]

2. Oh my God- what a temptation! Just get on a fruit picker and drop right down into the center of...

...all that soft webbing! Like laying in a hammock in the Caribbean with four hundred thousand little cabana boys crawling all over you, asking if you'd like another Mojito.

PB

[cali]

3. OK, that brings some vivid and horrifying/funny pictures to mind.

[Zephie]

4. And yet I feel the need to scream, then run away crying in that order

Sorry Malaria reducing spiders, you still scare the ever loving **** out of me!

[Buzz Clik]

8. +1

[eowyn_of_rohan]

5. Creepy but Cool -nt

[lonestarnot]

6. Wow, I bet they won't freeze.

[Buzz Clik]

7. I'm with this author all the way; I hate both spiders and mosquitoes.

If I had to choose between using spiders or DDT to control mosquitoes, I'd have to think long and hard: death by pesticide, or living with my irrational arachnophobia?

:scared:

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. "Long-Jawed Orb Spiders". I'm glad bedtime is still 12 hours away. n/t

[Auntie Bush]

10. Another advantage of the webs may be to prevent the tree leaves

from losing moisture and also keeping other nasty pests off that might kill the tree. Well...at least I'm trying to be an optimistic.

[hfojvt]

11. seems to me you get better mosquito control from bats

As long as you don't mind those giant flying bugs.

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. nature at her best?

if left alone nature takes care of business.

[Scuba]

18. Bingo!

[SPedigrees]

13. This phenomenon is caused by

over-abundant food sources. Normally spiders live solitary lives, spin separate webs, and cannibalize others of their species. Now, with plentiful insects, there is no need to prey on fellow spiders, and there is an advantage to spinning interconnecting webs to harvest the bounty.

[3waygeek]

14. It's not always spiders...

here in Atlanta, there's a fungus that produces filaments that look just like spiderwebs. I see them a lot in junipers.

[MrScorpio]

15. Thanks for reminding me why I never want to go back to Texas nt

[TwilightGardener]

16. If spiders ever evolve to develop wings...it's game over, man.

[SPedigrees]

20. You got that right!

I hate spiders but I don't fear them. With wings, they would join the ranks of hornets, wasps, and Africanized bees, ie my most feared enemies, to be erradicated with raid hornet killer at the first sign of them taking up residence on my property.

Another thing in their favor is that they (at least the ones around here) don't hurt when they bite. The result of their venom is only apparent a day after the attack.

[The Philosopher]

17. Because God hates me.

Before those webs were found at the Tawakoni State Park, I had taken the trash out to see similar (but on a smaller scale) webbing on the trees next to my bins. Good Lord, that was a horrible summer. There seemed to be so many spiders. The lake was fighting a drought, too, I believe. But I didn't care about that much; I cared about those damned spiders!

[KG]

19. spiders creep me the fuck out, but i recognized their usefulness and let them go.

[Mojorabbit]

22. We put them out here also

except the wolf spider. They are fast and huge and if one is in the house it is toast.

[Gman]

21. We occasionally have tarantula's show up around the house

usually when it's going to rain hard or right afterwards. We leave them alone because they're not poisonous and they kill bugs.