[HN Gopher] A spider web unlike any seen before
___________________________________________________________________
A spider web unlike any seen before
Author : juanplusjuan
Score : 267 points
Date : 2026-01-05 07:06 UTC (15 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| mkl wrote:
| https://archive.ph/25NVv
|
| Some other stories about it that got no traction here:
| https://www.livescience.com/animals/spiders/worlds-biggest-s...,
| https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worlds-largest-sp...
| kennethrc wrote:
| ... excuse me while I Nope! TF out
| Lio wrote:
| This is fascinating. My first question would be what are they
| catching?
|
| What can sustain that number of spiders so far underground?
| barryvan wrote:
| From the article:
|
| > The vast spider population is attributed to an abundant food
| supply: more than 2.4 million midges in the cave, ready to be
| entangled in the intricate web.
|
| ...although I guess the question then is what sustains the
| millions of midges!
| jbotz wrote:
| From the livescience article linked by another poster:
| biofilm produced by sulfur-eating bacteria, which in turn
| metabolize sulfur from the sulfur-rich stream in the cave.
|
| So the whole food-chain here is: sulfur -> bacteria -> midges
| -> spiders.
| ginko wrote:
| Seems like a great place for spider-eating frogs to move
| into.
| oersted wrote:
| > The environment, too, is unusually protected. The cave
| is hard to reach and is filled with foul-smelling
| hydrogen sulfide gas, in concentrations too great for
| most animals to live there.
| IAmBroom wrote:
| I don't know why she swallowed a\ f\l\y\ rotten eggs.
| perihelions wrote:
| That's the interesting part! (And which the submitted NYT
| story regrettably neglects). It's a chemoautotrophic
| ecosystem[0] largely independent of the sun, and of
| photosynthetic life.
|
| Akin to hydrothermal vents[1] in the ocean, and the lifeforms
| that eat that effluent.
|
| [0] https://subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/162344/ ( _" An
| extraordinary colonial spider community in Sulfur Cave
| (Albania/Greece) sustained by chemoautotrophy"_)
|
| > _" Stable isotope analyses (d13C and d15N) revealed that
| the trophic web sustaining this assemblage is fueled by in
| situ primary production from sulfur-oxidizing microbial
| biofilms then transferred through chironomid larvae and
| adults to higher trophic levels."_
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent
| adrian_b wrote:
| It is a chemoautotrophic system, but it is not independent
| of the sun and of photosynthetic life.
|
| This is a hugely erroneous claim that is much too
| frequently encountered in the popular publications.
|
| Both in this cave and in hydrothermal vents, most
| autotrophic bacteria use free oxygen to oxidize the
| hydrogen sulfide, producing thus the energy needed for
| autotrophy.
|
| The free oxygen comes from the phototrophic algae and
| plants (located elsewhere), i.e. from solar energy.
|
| On Earth, there are only 2 kinds of autotrophic bacteria
| and archaea that may be independent from solar energy, the
| acetogenic bacteria and archaea and the methanogenic
| archaea. Both kinds obtain energy from free hydrogen and
| carbon dioxide, the former producing acetic acid and the
| latter producing methane.
|
| These 2 kinds of bacteria and archaea need free hydrogen
| and most of them are killed by free oxygen. Sometimes the
| free hydrogen is produced by fermentation of organic
| substances, like in our intestines, so also coming from
| solar energy, but free hydrogen is also produced by the
| oxidation of volcanic rocks by water, when its origin is
| independent of solar energy and dependent only on the
| internal heat of the Earth, which produces volcanic rocks
| that are in chemical equilibrium at high temperatures deep
| inside the Earth's mantle, but they are no longer in
| chemical equilibrium after reaching the cold surface of the
| Earth.
|
| Thus deep underground or in certain places on the bottom of
| the oceans, where free dihydrogen is abundant and there
| exists no free dioxygen, there are communities of
| acetogenic and methanogenic bacteria and archaea that are
| independent of solar energy, but this is not the case for
| this cave and for many of the hydrothermal vents, where
| both hydrogen sulfide and free dioxygen are abundant, so
| aerobic bacteria are dominant.
|
| Anywhere where there is either air or water with dissolved
| dioxygen, the living beings use the most efficient energy
| source, i.e. the oxidation of either organic or anorganic
| substances with the free dioxygen, so they depend on solar
| energy, even when there is no light in that place.
| pharrington wrote:
| Every part of Earth's crust is jam packed with life.
| kijin wrote:
| Also, this web is so dense it looks like a solid sheet of silk,
| studded with the remains of its past victims. Wouldn't that be
| a little too conspicuous? I thought spider webs were supposed
| to be nearly invisible to the prey.
| szszrk wrote:
| Well the article claims cave is pitch dark, so I guess the
| invisible part is granted anyway.
| kijin wrote:
| Cave-dwelling animals don't just crash into walls all the
| time, so by "visible" I mean large enough and dense enough
| to be recognized as an obstacle in whatever navigation
| system they use.
| hnlmorg wrote:
| They do rest on walls though.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| In this case every part of the wall is actually just a
| spiderweb.
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| Spiders are super solitary creatures. I wonder, though, if they
| could become social.
| albedoa wrote:
| There are hundreds of species of social spiders:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_spider
| nomilk wrote:
| Impressive that there's a wiki article on precisely that
| topic.
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| Wow, thank you! I obviously had no idea!
|
| Although, in terms of numbers, according to that Wikipedia:
| "Several permutations of social behavior exist amongst the 23
| species of spider considered to be quasi-social out of some
| 45,000 known species of spider"
| sph wrote:
| You might enjoy the book Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
| motoxpro wrote:
| The perfect thread and comment to recommend this book!
| Nition wrote:
| Or maybe _A Deepness in the Sky_ by Vernor Vinge.
| MrVandemar wrote:
| Or maybe _Web_ (1979) by John Wyndham.
| publicdebates wrote:
| Or maybe _Charlotte 's Web_ by E. B. White.
| pwndByDeath wrote:
| It begins!
| emmelaich wrote:
| Not sure if you'd count it as social, but the dancing spiders
| certainly put effort into courtship:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qkzwG2lLPc _Peacock spiders,
| dance for your life! - BBC_
| tim333 wrote:
| There's youtube of: The Process of Making Friends With a Tiny
| Spider https://youtu.be/i6ucE1cfzmE
| gus_massa wrote:
| I've seen old brick wall with a lot of funnel of spiders. (I'm
| not sure it's the exact same specie of spider.) They were
| close, but not in contact of each other IIRC. I guess when
| there is not enough room they get use to have neighbors and
| then evolution makes them less grumpy.
| apricot13 wrote:
| One half of me is fascinated by this as spiders are such amazing
| creatures. So long as they don't break our house rules they're
| welcome to stay, especially the spindles! The other half of me
| didn't scroll far enough down and a a slither of the video played
| at the bottom of the screen making me think a spider was running
| across my arm and made me jump!
| colordrops wrote:
| Yeah same, we do not bother spiders in the house unless they
| jump into bed or on food or whatever, and then we just take
| them outside. With spiders and cats in the house we never see
| any flies or other insects.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| We have a lot of spiders and yet they don't seem to do much
| about the silverfish. :(
|
| They do hunt millipedes and then drag the corpses back to
| their lair to form a millipede graveyard.
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| Silverfish are one of the few insects grosser than any
| spider, even the way they scuttle is revolting.
| bob1029 wrote:
| I have a rule with the spiders where if they get too bold
| they get the vacuum. I don't mind them lurking in the corners
| but I don't want them crawling across my desk. I think most
| of them understand the arrangement by now. Only occasional
| enforcement is necessary.
| jamespo wrote:
| glass and piece of card, come on!
| rubzah wrote:
| Incidentally, this method cured me of arachnophobia.
| Having it trapped inside the glass, yet in my hand and up
| close to take a closer look, allowed me to gradually see
| them as not all that scary. It's like that therapy where
| you gradually get closer to the thing you're afraid of
| (desensitization?).
| 4dregress wrote:
| I like to think of them as little robots, however I still
| need to get my partner to move them.
|
| I think it's their speed which I don't like!
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| THIS. You can then also show the spider to the kids for
| added interest before releasing it into the wild.
| bob1029 wrote:
| The point is to send a message to the other spiders.
| alwa wrote:
| I deal with trespassing flies this way. They spend some
| time in fly jail (butterfly net, twisted closed and
| propped against the door frame through which they
| entered) _pour encourager les autres_ , then they go free
| outside at dusk.
|
| Pheromones, interpretive dance, telepathy,--I don't know
| exactly how the others get the message but I know that
| they do, and they stay on the correct side of the
| doorway.
| xattt wrote:
| I tried this with a yellowjacket and a screamer of a Shop
| Vac that has a six-foot hose. I was sure it would have
| suffocated from the dust inside the vacuum bag clogging its
| spiracles.
|
| Next morning, the wasp (now with tattered wings) was
| sitting in the corner of a window. I have no idea how it
| made it out.
| capitainenemo wrote:
| It's probably a pretty natural path for the wasp assuming
| it survived the initial time you were running the vac.
| The shopvac is just a big container with at the top an
| exit path following the wall naturally out the tube. They
| don't even tend to have a flap like smaller hand vacs
| might have to keep dust from falling out during use.
| ajuc wrote:
| Use glass and a paper sheet, much easier and less harsh
| on the "bugs".
| SauntSolaire wrote:
| I don't find that any easier, and generally don't care
| about insect welfare.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I feel guilty when I take down the webs. Wool dusters work
| as well as the vac.
|
| Lately I have been trying to get macro photos of spiders
| hanging on their threads and so far failing because they
| see the camera and drop down a foot before I can set up the
| shot.
| voidfunc wrote:
| I'm sure putting it outside makes you feel better but it's
| a death sentence regardless for most house spiders to be
| put into the outdoors.
| Magi604 wrote:
| This was my exact arrangement with them when I used to live
| in a basement suite that was crawling with them.
| _qua wrote:
| I've never really understood the "spiders protect you from
| pests" argument. Yeah, sure they eat flies. But I'd much
| rather have a fly buzz past me and get stuck to some fly
| paper than have a spider drop from the door frame on an
| invisible silk thread and slam into my face, or run across my
| pillow. Maybe I have arachnophobia, but they're freaky little
| creatures that I don't want in my living space.
| pwndByDeath wrote:
| They eat the creatures who want to eat you. Like beautiful
| guardian angels
| chrisweekly wrote:
| That's how I feel about dragonflies. Spiders are, to me,
| equally interesting but less enjoyable. I tolerate a few
| spiders in our house, but not in bedrooms or the kitchen.
| sheepscreek wrote:
| > than have a spider drop from the door frame on an
| invisible silk thread and slam into my face, or run across
| my pillow
|
| Rare if ever happens. Maybe 5 times in your life time. I
| will pay that cost any day. I have made friends with
| spiders. Flies spread diseases, spiders eat them. Spiders
| seldom bite humans and when they do, it's nowhere near as
| bad as getting scratched by a cat.
| ysavir wrote:
| For what it's worth, it happens to me about 5 times each
| summer. But I also welcome spiders as pest control, so
| it's not a surprise, and I forget all about it 5 seconds
| later.
| sheepscreek wrote:
| You should make friends with Canadian spiders then. They
| are very polite. I don't remember the last time I got bit
| :)
| nancyminusone wrote:
| Suit yourself, I'd much rather have the latter. One of the
| best features of spiders is that they can't fly. If a bug
| can fly, all bets are off. Who knows where that thing is
| going to end up. Spiders are at least more predictable.
|
| I've never been prevented from sleep by a spider buzzing
| around the room, either.
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| > I'd much rather have a fly buzz past me
|
| Ever wonder where those flies have been? Maybe on some nice
| smelly garbage, and then on your food or your dishes. Flies
| carry diseases, man.
|
| > and get stuck to some fly paper
|
| Glue traps are cruel.
| atlintots wrote:
| Aren't spider webs kind of like glue traps
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| No.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| The spider quickly kills the prey. Glue traps don't.
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| They paralyze them and wrap them up till they want to eat
| them which can be days later.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| I saw a butterfly get stuck to a web once. It immediately
| started hurling itself violently away, trying to shake
| itself free. The spider was not immediately in evidence.
|
| I managed to take the web off it, but not without tearing
| off the part of the wing that made contact. I assume that
| in the butterfly's best-case scenario, that would have
| happened anyway. It was able to fly afterwards.
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| Now try to save a butterfly from a glue trap.
| Workaccount2 wrote:
| It's actually spider webs that protect you from pests. The
| webs keep catching bugs as long as they are there, the
| spider just eats what it wants then moves on.
| InsideOutSanta wrote:
| I don't mind spiders at all, they mostly stay out of my
| way. Flies, on the other hand, land on my food, buzz around
| the room when I want to sleep, and are generally a
| nuisance.
| ajuc wrote:
| Mosquitos and flies are much more harmful than spiders.
| basscomm wrote:
| My house has a problem with little black ants that pest
| control services never could quite take care of. Spiders
| kept trying to set up shop near a window, but I would
| always knock the web down. Once I relented and let the
| spiders do their thing my ant problem went away. All I need
| to do is clean up a few ant corpses in the fall, which is a
| tradeoff I'm willing to make.
| divbzero wrote:
| In this case, it's more on us to not break their house rules
| when we visit their cave.
| reconnecting wrote:
| I had so many thoughts about web spiders (crawlers) and what they
| might create that's never been seen before, until I read this
| article.
|
| Nature is always several steps ahead.
| hacker_88 wrote:
| All went to the cave to get away from everything
| mxkopy wrote:
| Oh, to be a spider eating 2.4 million midges
| maelito wrote:
| The earth is full of wonders but we're destroying most of them.
| functionmouse wrote:
| Not "we", it's the billionaires.
| 6LLvveMx2koXfwn wrote:
| My gas fired central heating is set to 20 degrees C. So if
| not 'you', then definitely 'me'!
| antonvs wrote:
| It should be surprising that so few people are willing to
| acknowledge this. Unfortunately, it's not.
| Nextgrid wrote:
| If money wasn't an issue both of you can replace whatever
| polluting heating solution you have with a more
| environmentally-friendly one.
| nicbou wrote:
| They produce the goods that we consume. We are the ones
| working in their marketing department, building their online
| stores, streamlining consumption. Then we go home and buy
| stuff we don't need.
| n4r9 wrote:
| They only "produce" anything in an abstract economic sense.
| treyd wrote:
| The productive capacity for the goods we consume was built
| by average people. Billionaires only exist to skim off the
| top, and are not a required component of the process.
| nicbou wrote:
| What does this have to do with the discussion?
| Arnt wrote:
| It's odd, in a way -- when you have a well-paying job, you
| have nothing from an accounting viewpoint and the owners of
| the organisation have a valuable asset. The skill that you
| contribute to the organisation is accounted for as a
| financial asset belonging to someone else. There are good
| reasons for that, the accounting viewpoint makes sense for
| accounting purposes.
|
| In everyday parlance we say that _you_ have a job and _you_
| have the skill, and in reality you actually are free to take
| your skill elsewhere. Your skill plays a part in the market
| value of your employer, but you stay or leave at your whim,
| the "owner" of the "asset" doesn't decide.
|
| Those billions are IMO mostly an accounting fiction -- it's
| better to think of it in the way that our ordinary language
| suggests, where your actions are yours, your skills are
| yours, etc. If you drive to work, that's your emissions based
| on your choice, it's not a choice made by someone whose great
| wealth is mostly an assessment of your skill and earning
| power.
|
| If you build a house and need some concrete for that, CO2 is
| emitted in a concrete factory, but I think it's better to
| regard the emitted CO2 as a choice made by you than as
| emissions by the billionaire who owns the factory. Even if
| the accountants assess the value of the factory as a large
| number.
| maelito wrote:
| No, the average US citizen destroys the planet. They would
| too if the economy was owned by large corporations owned by
| the state. Which is almost the same now that the country is
| run by oligarchs.
| latentsea wrote:
| Who gave them billions of dollars?
| functionmouse wrote:
| Trillions of dollars worth of propaganda, lobbying &
| outright bribery, regulatory capture, psychological social
| conditioning etc say Americans don't stand a chance to
| change the status quo. These things are set in motion
| empirically, you have got to understand.
| latentsea wrote:
| Trillions of dollars regular folks purchases produces
| billionaires.
| tim333 wrote:
| We are another invasive species I guess.
| Levitz wrote:
| Creating a whole lot of them too.
|
| Something as simple as a bakery is amazing.
| catigula wrote:
| Don't worry, AI will be nice for some reason.
| shawabawa3 wrote:
| "The cave is full of hydrogen sulphide gas in too high
| concentrations for most animals to survive"
|
| Over a shot of a bunch of people walking around with no masks on?
| nosianu wrote:
| Read a bit further, the very next sentence???
|
| > "All you could smell was sulfur hydrogen, and you cannot
| breathe," Dr. Vrenozi said, recalling that most of the
| researchers were wearing masks. But as they descended deeper
| into the cave, she said that "you get used to the smell of
| spoiled eggs."
|
| Also, you use "" but you are not quoting, the text inside your
| quotes does not exist in the article. The actual quote would be
|
| > _The cave is hard to reach and is filled with foul-smelling
| hydrogen sulfide gas, in concentrations too great for most
| animals to live there._
| voidUpdate wrote:
| Getting used to the smell doesn't mean it's safe though...
| And isn't the safe level of hydrogen sulphide "if you can
| smell it, its not safe"?
| antonvs wrote:
| Getting used to the smell could be an extremely bad sign,
| in fact.
|
| With hydrogen sulfide, olfactory fatigue can occur at 100
| ppm, and paralysis of the olfactory nerve has been reported
| at 150 ppm[1]. Those levels are considered "immediately
| dangerous to life and health (level that interferes with
| the ability to escape)"[3]
|
| So you might think the gas is gone or that you're "used to
| it", but you're being poisoned and are at risk of losing
| consciousness and dying.
|
| However, according to [2], "the atmosphere in [Sulfur Cave]
| can reach concentrations of up to 14 ppm of H2S". According
| to [4] that's below the "acceptable ceiling concentration"
| of 20 ppm, with up to 50 ppm for a 10-minute period being
| acceptable for an 8-hour shift. So these levels are in the
| "not great, not terrible" category. Wearing a mask is
| highly advisable.
|
| [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208170/
|
| [2] https://subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/162344/
|
| [3] https://www.osha.gov/hydrogen-sulfide/hazards
|
| [4] https://www.osha.gov/laws-
| regs/regulations/standardnumber/19...
| microtherion wrote:
| Yes, that was my thought as well. As a youthful
| experimenter, I once did not clean up properly after
| myself and stopped smelling the H2S which was permeating
| the room (Back then, the recipe for H2S was in chapter 1
| of the Chemistry sets. Good times!)
|
| No longer noticing the smell is NOT a good thing!
| shawabawa3 wrote:
| I was quoting the caption in one of the images at the top,
| not the article itself
| nosianu wrote:
| Before replying I searched the entire page and did not find
| your quote anywhere, including the captions. To make sure I
| did not miss anything I even only searched for a single
| word from your quote, "hydrogen", then "animals", and there
| are only three (two) places in the text, none in the
| captions.
|
| I'm not sure if NYT articles are known to change their
| images and captions for different viewers? I checked the
| archived link too.
| JayStavis wrote:
| It's the lower third at [0:28](https://vp.nyt.com/video/2
| 025/11/07/154186_1_07vid-spider-we...) in the video.
| tim333 wrote:
| Effects of hydrogen sulphide:
|
| >Acute inhalation exposure to high concentrations may result in
| collapse, respiratory paralysis, cyanosis, convulsions, coma,
| cardiac arrhythmias, and death within minutes.
|
| >Exposure to low concentrations may irritate the eyes and
| respiratory tract, resulting in sore throat, cough, and
| dyspnoea.
|
| I guess they were at the low end.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| This NYT article opens with a video showing the web and some
| explanatory text.
|
| The archive.today copy doesn't play the video. The thumbnail
| image is present. The <video> tag is present on the archived
| page, but its src attribute has been renamed to "old-src". Re-
| renaming the old-src attribute back to "src" will cause the video
| to play, but at that point you're playing the original non-
| archived video directly from nyt.com. This will presumably break
| if NYT takes the video down.
|
| Does archive.today not archive videos?
| eimrine wrote:
| enough good is to archive everything except videos
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > The team of scientists discovered that 69,000 _Tegenaria
| domestica_ , known as the barn funnel weaver, were living with
| about 42,000 _Prinerigone vagans_ , which inhabit wet places.
| Usually the barn funnel weavers prey on _P. vagans_ , which are
| smaller.
|
| > "But in the cave, because it's dark in there, our hypothesis
| was that they do not see each other," Blerina Vrenozi, a
| biologist, zoologist and ecologist at the University of Tirana in
| Albania said in an interview. "So they do not attack."
|
| I thought one of the major purposes of spiderwebs was that the
| spider can detect the presence of something else in the web
| without needing to be able to see it.
| acomjean wrote:
| I think you are right. If I remember there were 2 types of
| silk, and they could use their legs to "listen" to vibrations
| when something gets caught anywhere in the web. They seem to
| avoid getting stuck in their own webs.
|
| But they do have 8 eyes, so I'm assuming they make visual
| confirmation. But these cave spiders are in the dark...
| BirAdam wrote:
| Depending upon the species, spiders can make more types of
| silk: strong, soft, sticking, sensing, etc.
|
| Most spiders have terrible eyesight despite having eight
| eyes. Those with good eyesight are jumping spiders, portia,
| and a few ground spiders. These species are easily
| distinguished by having two large front-facing eyes.
|
| Due to bad eyesight, most spiders use touch through their
| webs and/or hairs. The hirsute species can easily identify
| pretty much anything that causes a wind current near them,
| and most all species can easily identify prey by the distinct
| vibrations they make once caught in the web.
|
| If you watch most spiders, however, they can occasionally be
| fooled on windy day when a leaf or other detritus hits their
| webs, and they have to go touch it to find out it isn't prey.
| Eyesight just isn't a thing most are great with.
| eimrine wrote:
| Most of spiders I tried to fool can't be fooled by a leaf,
| they usually wait for recurring vibrations. Touching the
| web by a stick never produces enough good vibration to
| attract the spider. Baiting to things on the web is mostly
| about young spiders, the biggest spiders I have seen on
| their webs usually kind of lazy.
| bulletsvshumans wrote:
| Maybe the glut of conventional food leaves the prospect of
| eating their compatriots less appetizing.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| Probably not; these aren't closely related spiders. It would
| be like a human eating a monkey, which is something humans
| like doing.
|
| But if the smaller spiders can fight back at all, it might
| well make that battle less appealing.
| eimrine wrote:
| Spider fight is wrestling about who does the one shot one
| hit, they do not hit or puncture in other in order to make
| just a mechanical damage.
| ZuzuDuck wrote:
| OMG, thats look so terrifying and amazing at the same time
| pjb88 wrote:
| What advantage would the inside spiders have? Surely they
| wouldn't catch any bugs?
|
| Or are they building a structure that's attractive for bugs to
| enter? What's the strategy for this web?
| alienbaby wrote:
| The article mentions that the caves are filled with millions of
| midges providing plenty of food.
| abejfehr wrote:
| I think they're referring to the spiders that are deep in the
| web, since the midges presumably don't make it that deep
| eimrine wrote:
| They may have more chances to change their skin unnoticed in
| the silent place.
| oneseven wrote:
| midges can fly, so presumably they would hit the web at random
| points. as to why flying would be useful for the midges, if
| they consume biofilms on the surfaces, that's less clear.
| perhaps over time the midges will evolve away from flying and
| the spiders will have to adjust their strategy.
| metronomer wrote:
| We did it, we discovered Pharloom.
| le-mark wrote:
| I once had an apartment in an old building. The building had high
| ceilings and equally high wood frame windows. The windows were
| drafty and had visible gaps to the outside. As winter approached,
| and nights grew colder I set out to cover the windows with
| plastic film (common here for this purpose).
|
| While preparing one window in the bedroom I discovered a silken
| patch like a miniature of the one depicted in this article. I
| used my cleaning rag to wipe it away thinking any inhabitants had
| long since moved on. To my surprise a wisp tiny spiders scurried
| away from my swipe, disappearing into crevices, the base board,
| and carpet. Startled and not seeing any to kill, I bid them
| farewell, in my mind assuring myself they had moved on.
|
| That same day or the next a cold wave came through and I lied
| awake in bed listening to the plastic I had applied rustle from
| the wind. The window gaps were bigger than I'd thought. Falling
| into a fitful sleep under not quite adequate blankets, I suddenly
| felt a sharp pain in my lower leg! I jumped out of bed, turned a
| light, and found upon examination three red punctures on my left
| calf. Recalling the spiders from the day before I shook out my
| blankets and bed sheets. I checked below the bed. Nothing, I
| never found the culprits.
|
| After sleeping that night on the couch, I awoke late the next. I
| felt feverish and disoriented. The wounds on my calf had become
| inflamed. The cold in the apartment added to my discomfort.
|
| The next few days were a blur. I missed work and the few social
| engagements I had planned. Eventually the wounds began to heal
| but I was still bone cold and the light from windows hurt my
| eyes. Winter has set in and the plastic I'd applied to the
| windows had detached from the wind allowing icy drafts into the
| apartment. I diligently applied another layer of plastic on the
| windows, this time using packing tape to secure the corners!
|
| It was a harsh winter and I repeated this process several times
| until the windows were opaque and along with the shades allowing
| very little light through.
|
| One day as I sat in the dark slowly eating my meal there was a
| knock on the door. It was my close friend from work wondering
| what had happened to me. I must have been a sight judging from
| his startled appearance.
|
| Summer came and I emerged occasionally to acquire food and other
| necessities only to scurry back home when the outside became too
| overwhelming. I eventually found remote work, and here I am today
| in my cold dark apartment with high ceilings and drafty windows.
|
| Note if you made it to the end, thanks for indulging me. This is
| based on a real apartment, windows and spiders!
| antisthenes wrote:
| I'd read a short story or a novella written by you. Hope it was
| not LLMd.
| foltik wrote:
| On planet earth -- population 8.3 billion -- were apes that had
| not been known to live together harmoniously, having previously
| thought to be hostile to each other.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Non-paywall link from a previous submission when there were
| numerous posts about this without discussion:
| https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/science/biggest-spiderweb...
| briandw wrote:
| The big problem with farming spiders for silk is that you can't
| have a dense colony of them. This could a solution to that.
| Breeding these to make super strong silk to harvest would be
| really cool. Although you have to have a way of separating the
| strands to make thread.
| awei wrote:
| Strangely reminiscent of "Children of Time"'s beginnings of
| spider intelligence
| RyanOD wrote:
| I came here to mention the same book.
| AstroNutt wrote:
| The Wraith have arrived!
|
| Anyone that watched Stargate Atlantis gets it.
| ultim8k wrote:
| Run
| ekropotin wrote:
| I'd be careful - this spider web may be a gateway to Upside Down.
| Let's just cement the whole cave just in case.
| mikeyinternews wrote:
| The headline is very Trumpian
| xvilka wrote:
| I felt very bad for spider families who worked hard across
| generations to build a big and beautiful comfortable home for
| some clueless ancient giant with abhorrent moving appendages on
| its legs to tear it down with a horrific metallic instrument of
| torment.
| eimrine wrote:
| Not a problem at all, they have a midge budget to fix it with
| their chitin.
| lawlessone wrote:
| >Usually the barn funnel weavers prey on P. vagans, which are
| smaller.
|
| >"But in the cave, because it's dark in there, our hypothesis was
| that they do not see each other,"
|
| Will they start fighting one another now lights are being shone
| on them?
| divbzero wrote:
| > _The cave stays at about 80 degrees year-round._
|
| That seems remarkably warm. Is that typical for cave
| temperatures?
| ricksunny wrote:
| Odd use of the word 'pastiche'
|
| "The wider web is actually a pastiche of thousands of individual
| funnel-shaped webs,"
| eimrine wrote:
| If some spiders of these two species are going to find new home
| without dark, will they continue to be friends?
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