After my work schedule changed and I found myself not on call this weekend, I moved some of the annual vet visits back. But now I have something else to do this weekend: a road trip to Lake Tawakoni about 50 miles (80 kilometers) outside of Dallas.
Why am I going there? To see a spider web, but not just any spider web.
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.
[. . .]
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.
Although the article has a small photo, it’s not very impressive because of its size and angle.
Imagine a series of interconnected spider webs 200 yards (183 meters) long that span from the top of the trees to the ground. Better yet, think of it this way: it’s as long as two football fields placed end to end, and it’s as tall as the tallest tree along the path.
Imagine the sight of it!
I have to see it for myself. And I will be taking photos.
But why am I rushing out there when it’s already been pointed out the web will likely last until autumn? Because I want to see it before the weather and/or people destroy it.
Anyway, check this out:
“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.”
Cool! Awesome, dude!
I can’t wait. I intend to go either Saturday or Sunday morning depending on the weather and park hours, though I suspect Sunday morning would be best.
I will share with you whatever photos I can of this monstrous wonder of nature.
[Update] Check out this much larger version of that original photo shown in the CNN article linked to above. The biggified version gives much better detail. Spectacular! I can’t wait to see it.
Oh, and the species has been identified. It’s the Southeastern Social Cobweb Spider (Anelosimus studiosus), a communal arachnid that lives in colonies of vast numbers (e.g., there was a nest that “measured over 25 feet in length, 6 – 8 feet in width, and 4 – 5 feet in height and may have contained over fifty thousand spiders.”).
[Update 2] A different photo of the web from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. My excitement is growing at the very idea of seeing in person such a fantastic natural wonder. I can’t wait to feel its presence surrounding me, to let my senses feast on the experience.
[Update 3] There now appears to be more confusion and discussion regarding the species and the web itself. It might not be a communal structure after all, but instead might be the remnants of a dispersal event involving countless spiders, each moving on to its own destiny (perhaps from the family Tetragnathidae (Long-jawed Orb Weavers). The mystery grows as the investigation balloons.
