Massive communal spider webs appear in Dallas suburbs

Spiders are not very social creatures; as a matter of fact they are infamous for their aggressive and hostile behavior towards their own kind. In light of that fact, spiders working together to build giant webs seem improbable. But apparently this has actually happened in Texas. In the Lakeside Park in the suburb of Rowlett in Dallas, locals have reported seeing a giant spiderweb as large as a football field and about 40 m high. They have shrouded the trees and shrubbery and hundreds and hundreds of spiders can be seen crawling along the silken webs.

Image Source: cdn.phys.org

The sight of this massive web has frightened many people but entomologists said that there is nothing to be scared of and it is also completely unnecessary to use insect repellents or insecticides because these spiders are harmless to humans. Though these communal webs are very rare, they are not unheard of. Another such communal web was seen in 2007 in Lake Tawakoni State Park in Texas. That web was created by a species of spiders known as Tetragnathus guatamalensis.

The scientists have not yet identified the spiders that created the web in Dallas yet but they most likely belong to the family Tetragnathidae. The giant web has created much excitement among entomologists as they are likely to get lots of new information regarding spiders and their behavior towards each other and how they work together from this giant hive.

The most interesting fact is that both the 2007 communal web and the current one are located near a lake and scientists are surmising that the spiders probably cooperated in creating the web so that they could take advantage of the lake which is a breeding ground of many insects and a ready food source.

“These types of spiders are unusual in that they are not aggressive to other spiders of the same species on the same web,” Mike Merchant, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service urban entomologist in Dallas, said in a recent news release. “They also are not known to bite or be harmful to humans.” The fact that the spiders are living in such close proximity with each other without exhibiting any aggression is fascinating experts and they are looking forward to studying this phenomenon in greater detail.