Title : Massive spider webs found on an Israeli river
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Massive spider webs found on an Israeli river
- Soreq creek is full of sewage that promotes the proliferation of mosquitoes
- These serve as a source of food for spiders, which then reproduce in multitudes
- Its trees are shrouded by giant cobwebs woven by long-jawed spiders
- When they mate the male locks his jaws on female to stop her from eating him
On the banks of a creek near Jerusalem stands an enchanted forest, its trees shrouded by giant cobwebs woven by long-jawed spiders.
The Soreq creek contains treated sewage that is full of nutrients that promote the proliferation of mosquitoes.
These serve as a source of food for incredible web-spinning spiders which then reproduce in multitudes, weaving captivating and eerie webs above the water.
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On the banks of a creek near Jerusalem stands an enchanted forest, its trees shrouded by giant cobwebs woven by long-jawed spiders
'It's an exceptional case,' said arachnophile Igor Armicach, a doctoral student at Hebrew University´s Arachnid Collection.
Millions of long-jawed spiders created the webbing that envelops the forest, a phenomenon rarely seen in the Middle East.
But while spider egg sacs and spiderlings are everywhere along the banks of the creek, the future is bleak.
Colder temperatures will soon cause a drastic drop in the mosquito population that sustains the web-weavers.
At the end of the summers the spiders mate and the female will lay eggs before dying.
Long-jawed spiders are found in damp or swamp habitats all over the world.
They generally have long slim bodies with shiny abdomens.
These spiders sit in their web or on a nearby plant and wait for prey to fly into their trap. They feed on flying insects, including moths and leaf-hoppers.
The Soreq creek contains treated sewage that is full of nutrients that promote the proliferation of mosquitoes
Millions of long-jawed spiders created the webbing that envelops the forest, a phenomenon rarely seen in the Middle East
Their scientific name is 'Tetragnatha', which literally means four jaws.
When the male mates the female he has to lock his jaws onto her to stop her from eating him.
Like most spiders, they shed their skin as they grow and generally live for less than a year.
In 2009, long-jawed spiders made a giant web in a Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Plant.
But while spider egg sacs and spiderlings are everywhere along the banks of the creek, the future is bleak. Colder temperatures will soon cause a drastic drop in the mosquito population that sustains the web-weavers
At the end of the summers the spiders mate and the female will lay eggs before dying. Long-jawed spiders are found in damp or swamp habitats all over the world
These spiders sit in their web or on a nearby plant and wait for prey. They feed on flying insects, including moths and leaf-hoppers
According to the researchers, the webbing was so heavy it even damaged light fixtures and clumps of web were, in some places, as ‘thick as a fire hose.’
'We were unprepared for the sheer scale of the spider population and the extraordinary masses of both three dimensional and sheet-like webbing that blanketed much of the facility’s cavernous interior', researchers, led by Dr Albert Greene, a regional entomologist with the US General Services, wrote in the paper published in American Entomologist.
'Far greater in magnitude than any previously recorded aggregation of orb-weavers, the visual impact of the spectacle was was nothing less than astonishing', they wrote.
The Soreq creek (pictured) contains treated sewage which creates an abundance of mosquitoes which the the long-jawed spiders feed on. They have proliferated in their millions
Their scientific name is 'Tetragnatha', which means four jaws. When the male mates the female he has to lock his jaws onto her to stop her from eating him
'It's an exceptional case,' said arachnophile Igor Armicach, a doctoral student at Hebrew University´s Arachnid Collection
Like most spiders, they shed their skin as they grow and generally live for less than a year. In 2009, long-jawed spiders made a giant web in a Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Plant
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