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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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 Posted: 8/30/2007, 3:56 pm Post subject: Giant Texas spider web raises questions |
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From today's Arizona Republic -
Giant Texas spider web raises questions
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0830spider30-odd.html
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Associated Press
Aug. 30, 2007 08:56 AM
WILLS POINT, Texas - 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.
Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't 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."
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.
"I've been hearing from entomologists from Ohio, Kansas, British Columbia - all over the place," said Mike Quinn, an invertebrate biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who first posted photos online.
Herbert A. "Joe" Pase, a Texas Forest Service entomologist, said the massive web is very unusual.
"From what I'm hearing it could be a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said.
But John Jackman, a professor and extension entomologist for Texas A&M University, said he hears reports of similar webs every couple of years.
"There are a lot of folks that don't realize spiders do that," said Jackman, author of "A Field Guide to the Spiders and Scorpions of Texas."
"Until we get some samples sent to us, we really won't know what species of spider we're talking about," Jackman said.
Garde invited the entomologists out to the park to get a firsthand look at the giant web.
"Somebody needs to come out that's an expert. I would love to see some entomology intern come out and study this," she said.
Park rangers said they expect the web to last until fall, when the spiders will start dying off.
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GTG
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Davis2001R6
Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 5591
Location: Italy
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm running away right NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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YH
Hooli Wants to be just like me!
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
Posts: 387
Location: Portland, OR and Yosemite on a good day.
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Looks like those spiders are trying to catch unsuspecting night hikers! |
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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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It would make a fine, bug free camp.
GTG
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mike
What box?
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 3134
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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This is what can happen when you try to avoid spiders...
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Rattlesnake bites Mrs. America contestant
A Mrs. America contestant spent about 15 hours in a hospital after being bitten by a rattlesnake at a Tucson hotel.
Christina Ryan plans to continue despite suffering the venomous bite.
Ryan, who is representing Tennessee in the event being held at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, was heading down a staircase to a rehearsal at about 9 a.m. Sunday when she saw a spider in her path.
Having been bitten by a venomous brown recluse spider as a child, she knew to avoid the creature.
While avoiding the spider, she unknowingly stepped near a rattlesnake that bit her on the foot, she said.
"I startled it doing my little spider dance, and he bit me," she said. "As soon as it bit me I knew it was a rattlesnake." |
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0830SnakeBite30-ON.html
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Davis2001R6
Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 5591
Location: Italy
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Awe come on, give a guy a break. |
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beckett
Joined: 14 Feb 2005
Posts: 1066
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Looks like something out of a Harry Potter book to me.
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IGO
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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Cool and not so cool.
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"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir |
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JustinHEMI05
Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 21
Location: Goodyear, AZ
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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If I came across that out there... I would crap and pee myself and then probably die. HOWEVER, that being said, I think its really cool as long as its 2D on my computer screen.  I grew up watching my dad scream when he saw a spider so now I am the same way. Besides they are evil. What kind of creature eats its mate after sex and isn't evil??
Justin 
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desertgirl
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 3350
Location: Chandler, AZ
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| Posted: 8/30/2007, 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| beckett wrote: |
| Looks like something out of a Harry Potter book to me. |
Actaully -- I thought of Lord of the Rings 1st ....
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Life is but a dream ...there is no end to what you can dream! |
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jdahling
Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 233
Location: East Valley
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| Posted: 8/31/2007, 1:21 am Post subject: |
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Also from that same article: "I'm trying to get ready to walk in heels on Sunday without limping," she said. "I can now add fear of snakes to fear of spiders."
I don't need a snake or a spider to bite me before I have a fear of it. Ugghh - I cannot imagine it.
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"Life is an adventure ... Made for an adventurer ..." |
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beckett
Joined: 14 Feb 2005
Posts: 1066
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| Posted: 8/31/2007, 4:00 am Post subject: |
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Just finished watching the morning news on CBS and they did a feature on this amazing web.
Linda
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-- Walter Winchell, American newspaper commentator |
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Suz
Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 3186
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| Posted: 8/31/2007, 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| I wonder if spiders have ADHD....maybe it's a group with AAADHHHD! |
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IGO
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas
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| Posted: 8/31/2007, 5:37 am Post subject: |
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Ug 
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"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir |
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Hnak
Joined: 06 Jan 2003
Posts: 1766
Location: Prescott, AZ
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| Posted: 8/31/2007, 8:40 am Post subject: |
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As long as the spiders are devouring mosquitoes, I'm all for it!  
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The world is older and bigger than we are. This is a hard truth for some folks to swallow. —EDWARD ABBEY |
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