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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 _________________ Good things come to those who walk. |
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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 _________________ Good things come to those who walk. |
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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 _________________ [/size] |
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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. _________________ "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
-- Walter Winchell, American newspaper commentator |
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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. _________________ "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 _________________ http://picasaweb.google.com/JECrocker |
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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 .... _________________ Photos: http://www.pbase.com/desertgirl/galleries
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. _________________ Cheers,
Jeannine
"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 _________________ "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
-- 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 _________________ "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! _________________ 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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