{"id":4019,"date":"2015-08-21T16:58:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T16:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4019"},"modified":"2015-08-21T16:58:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T16:58:46","slug":"giant-spider-webs-make-another-appearance-in-dallas-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4019","title":{"rendered":"Giant Spider Webs Make Another Appearance in Dallas Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Paul Schattenberg\/TAMU AgriLife Extension Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2013 While traveling down CA Roan Drive in Rowlett recently, people have been exposed to an \u201ceerie\u201d sight on a number of trees lining that route, said Mike Merchant, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service urban entomologist in Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cCA Roan Drive is a quiet stretch of road running through Lakeside Park South in the Dallas suburb of Rowlett,\u201d Merchant said. \u201cBut in the trees along a football field-length stretch of the drive, the spiders have been taking over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merchant said \u201cglistening webs are draping the trees like shrouds at Lakeside Park,\u201d near Lake Ray Hubbard.<\/p>\n

\"RowlettWebs\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone stepping off the road for a closer look will see thousands of lanky spiders darting among the webs that extend up to 40 feet into the trees,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a surreal quality to the extensive webbing covering these trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merchant said while rare, it is not unheard of that such massive web-works may appear once in a while. For example, he said, in 2007 the media reported about a giant spider web found at Lake Tawakoni State Park, about 35 miles from Rowlett.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, the discovery of the web was more than creepy \u2013 it was a revelation to many arachnologists \u2014 spider experts,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s because spiders typically work alone to construct their webs. So finding spiders working together to build a huge web in what was more of a cooperative or \u2018communal\u2019 scenario was a real surprise for many experts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merchant said in the case of the giant web that appeared in 2007, the spiders responsible for the nest construction were ultimately identified as Tetragnatha guatemalensis.<\/p>\n

\u201cArachnologists had previously noted that this species is known to build communal nests when conditions are right,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is rare to see them building such large nests in the U.S. Spider experts have indicated that those \u2018right conditions\u2019 appear to include a glut of small insects like midges that emerge at night from lakes. Without lots of food, these communal webs just don\u2019t seem to form.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of spiders are unusual in that they are not aggressive to other spiders of the same species on the same web,\u201d he said. \u201cThey also are not known to bite or be harmful to humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of their lack of aggression, Merchant said there is really no need to treat for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cInsecticides or other treatments are really unnecessary as this spider is essentially harmless and, although the communal nest may look spooky, they too are basically benign and are a sight more to be appreciated than feared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many arachnologists and others consider these nests natural works of art, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get the chance to take a drive along CA Roan Drive in Rowlett, you might want to take a few moments to stop and admire this spider handiwork. But please don\u2019t touch the art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"While

While the specific identity of the massive web-building spiders is as yet unknown, they are likely a long-jawed spider of the family Tetragnathidae. Photo: Mike Merchant\/Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Paul Schattenberg\/TAMU AgriLife Extension Service DALLAS \u2013 While traveling down CA Roan Drive in Rowlett recently, people have been exposed to an \u201ceerie\u201d sight on a number of trees lining that route, said Mike Merchant, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service urban entomologist in Dallas. \u201cCA Roan Drive is a quiet stretch of road running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4022,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019\/revisions\/4022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}