Wednesday 26 June 2013

Spider Rain in Brazil

It's raining SPIDERS

What's that? You're worried about a little snow falling on your head? How adorable.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, it's raining spiders.
Footage posted online  shows thousands of spiders "falling from the sky" in the southern Brazilian town of Santo Antônio da Platina.

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Video shows moment sky filled with tiny webs after wind blew arachnids loose in Brazil
Video shows spiders appearing to rain down .
But are actually suspended via a huge web Anelosimus eximius, a rare 'social' spider form large webs which can be caught by wind and 'dropped' in unusual places.

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Background 

According to biologist Marta Fischer of the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, however, the phenomenon is not so strange. ”
This type of spider is known to be quite social,” she said. “They are usually in trees during the day and in the late afternoon and early evening construct sort of giant sheets of webs, in order to trap insects.”

Around Sao Paulo and its neighboring cities, she said, it’s not an unusual site to see a sky speckled by spiders. The species, Anelosimus eximius, can be found from Panama to Argentina and lives in colonies sometimes comprised of thousands of individuals. 

Each spider is around the size of a pencil eraser. As Examiner reports, the species’ webs can stretch from the ground up to tree canopies or human constructions 65 feet high.

If strong winds come along, the web may detach from its anchors, carrying the spiders and their ruined home to new sites where they appear to “rain down.” 

Catching rides on the wind–en mass–was likely what happened in Santo Antonio da Platina. While the humans gawked below, the flustered spiders were simply trying to pull themselves together after an unexpected journey from some forest or park.


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