Why do spiders gather?

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There are very few species of spiders that are considered to be social which means that they gather in groups.  However, those species of spiders known as social spiders gather in family type groups where there are young and older spiders alike all building a giant web together to pool their resources to catch prey and in turn benefit by the extra food shared amongst them.  Hence, they appear to gather so as to enable them to share in the common benefits such communal living affords.

There are very few species of spiders that are considered to be social which means that they gather in groups.  However, those species of spiders known as social spiders gather in family type groups where there are young and older spiders alike all building a giant web together to pool their resources to catch prey and in turn benefit by the extra food shared amongst them.  Hence, they appear to gather so as to enable them to share in the common benefits such communal living affords.

why do spiders gather
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These social spiders that live in large clusters in these family type groups lay large sheet webs that create a silken nest.  The younger spiders are usually larger than the older ones.  Some of these social spiders have been known to hunt in packs. 

The Latin name for these social spiders is Stegodyphus and they are typically found in Africa and South America.  There are 8 species of social spider in South Africa and their colouring varies from brown to between various shades of grey with yellow infusions and black markings.  The female social spider is between 8 and 14 mm long and the male is slightly smaller than the female.  Whereas the average sizes of solitary spider species range between 6mm and 23 mm in length.  Most spider species are solitary except for the two social spider species known as Stegodyphus domicola most often found in southern Africa and Stegodyphus mimosarum found in eastern regions. 

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Tennis net spider

The social spider can also be referred to as the tennis net spider since it makes a hackle web that is stretched between one point and another.  The hackled appearance of the web is as a result of the teased or cribellate silk that the spiders use to build it.  A small nest in the shape of a ball is found at one end and is attached to the vegetation it is built in approximately one metre above the ground.  These webs are found in Fynbos in the western Cape whereas they use Acacia trees in the Bushveld.  However, other structures such as poles and fences are also used.  When social spiders decide to build a new nest it is usually started off by as little as two spiders, usually female, who leave their previous nest and as the colony grows the nest is made that much bigger by the succeeding generations.  Mainly female and young spiders inhabit the nest with the young spiders living inside compartments inside the nest which is similar to a block of flats.  A nest can house more than one hundred spiders and can be used for several years and birds sometimes use the silk from the nests of these social spiders as lining for their nests.  When prey happen to land in the web, a handful of spiders emerge and overpower the victim.  Together they then drag it to one of the compartments or chambers in the nest and other spiders will then join them to partake in the meal.  The bigger the prey, the more spiders will participate in capturing it.

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Do spiders share webs?

Spiders who are thought to be solitary found in a giant web in Dallas, Texas

An interesting story comes from Dallas, Texas, where, not too many years ago a giant spider web was spotted along a quiet roadside.  Researchers claimed that it had been built by many thousands of non-venomous spiders who were working collectively with the goal of catching prey. 

The web was described by entomologists as being the size of the length of a football field and “draping the trees like shrouds”.  Imagine for a moment how terrifying this must be to someone with serious arachnophobia. Yet, it is nevertheless quite a fascinating phenomenon considering that spiders are normally quite solitary by nature.  It is not surprising that the web attracted a number of tourists to the area. 

It was reported that if a person stepped of the road to take a closer look they would see thousands of spiders crawling inside these massive web structures that reach up to 12 metres into the trees.  It was also noted that there was an apparent surreal quality to these webs covering the trees in this manner. 

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Surreal Spider behaviour

Why is it reported that the giant web that had been built by many thousands of spiders with a single common goal was considered to be surreal?  What is really going on here when spiders are naturally supposed to be solitary?  While spiders usually work as independent operators in building their webs, certain spider species do show social behaviour tendencies.  Even though this is rare, it is not completely unheard of for them to gather together under certain conditions with the goal of catching large numbers of prey.  The same thing was reported to have also taken place in 2007 at Late Tawakoni State Park, also in Texas.

The web’s discovery took many experts by surprise

Many experts were taken by surprise to discover spiders working together in this way to build a massive web in a cooperative manner and it was considered to be more than a little creepy. 

Experts believe that certain conditions were responsible for these spiders coming together to build this web.  These researchers hypothesised that due to a large amount of small insects having all been released into the ecosystem simultaneously, this provided the perfect weather conditions for these spiders to work together to construct a megaweb that could catch many more prey than if they were to work in their usually solitary fashion.  A large number of flying insects being present at this time was also the reason behind the collaboration.  Hence, without the presence of an abundance of food, the massive web structures would not be built.

The spiders who were responsible for building the giant web in 2007 were finally classified as being part of the species known as Tetragnatha guatemalensis.  And while the spiders who built the nest in Dallas have not yet been positively identified, it is thought that they too belong to this family.

The good thing about these spiders is that they are not normally an aggressive species towards each other and humans alike and while these massive webs have been known to capture birds, bats and large insects, they will not actively seek to harm humans as long as we do not interfere with them.

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Tiny clusters of baby black and yellow spiders spotted all over the United Kingdom

In the autumn of 2015, clusters of hundreds of tiny spiders were seen all over the United Kingdom.  What was described as ‘throbbing masses’ of yellow spiders with a black spot on their backs and curved legs were spotted clinging to bins, walls, door handles and garden plants all across the UK.  These interesting looking insects are actually baby garden spiders that grow into fully-fledged, predatory garden spiders.  Only days old, these miniature arachnids hatch during Autumn each year and are the offspring of the common Araneus diadematus or what is also known as the cross orbweaver species which can lay between 300 to 800 eggs each year.  Once hatched, these spiderlings will stay together until they are sufficiently mature to become independent. 

The British Arachnological Society advises that if one should ‘disturb’ one of these spiderling clusters it will ‘explode’ into individual spiders that disperse over minuscule silken safety lines in the web and once the threat passes they climb back up into the web and again form a cluster. 

While these tiny creatures can appear frightening to say the least, these energetic little arachnids are considered to be harmless to humans but to most insects they are a formidable predator.  Once they mature, these spiders tend to suspend themselves head-down in their webs and are found in window frames, bushes, trees and buildings.  Their webs are extremely effective for trapping small insects.

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Daddy long legs

The daddy long legs is another type of arachnid known as a pholcid that appears to exhibit group behaviour.

They are thin and delicate looking arachnids with a body that has a shape resembling that of a peanut.  The common name of ‘daddy long legs’ is used to describe a number of these arachnids which include crane flies and harvestmen. 

The web of the daddy long legs type of arachnid has no adhesive features and instead relies on the fact that it has a somewhat irregular structure that is used to trap its prey.  When these spiders detect the presence of prey inside their webs they rapidly envelop their prey in silk-like material before they deliver their fatal bite.   Such prey may either be eaten straight away or stored to be eaten later.   When these spiders have concluding a feeding session, they clean their web by unhooking the remains of any prey and allowing the carcass to drop away from the web. 

Vibrating spiders

Certain types of daddy long legs exhibit a threat response mechanism if they are disturbed by large prey that has become entangled in their web or something touching their web.  The daddy long legs responds by rapidly vibrating using a gyrating motion.  It may also oscillate in tune with the web’s elasticity which causes an oscillation which is larger than the motion of its legs.  Even though other types of spiders also exhibit this type of behaviour, this type of behaviour in daddy long legs’ has led to them being referred to as vibrating spiders. 

Misconceptions around the daddy long legs spider

There is an urban legend that maintains that daddy long legs spiders are equipped with the most potent venom of all spiders but that their fangs are too small to pierce human skin which renders them harmless to humans. 

Mythbusters televion show experiment

In 2004 the television show Mythbusters tested the venom of the daddy long legs.  The shows hosts first established that the venom of the daddy long legs spider is not as toxic as other venom after being informed of another experiment where mice were injected with the venom of both the daddy long legs and the black widow spiders where the venom of the black widow produced a far more severe reaction.  After measuring the daddy long legs’ fangs to be approximately 0.25mm the show’s host placed his hand into a container housing numerous daddy long legs spiders.   He reported that he did feel a bite that produced a short-lived, mild burning sensation.  While it was established that the bite did penetrate the skin, it did not cause any noteworthy harm and other recent research also revealed that the venom of the daddy long legs is in fact rather weak in terms of its overall effect on other insects. 

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Do house spiders live in groups?

As we have seen, the majority of spiders are solitary creatures and only one or two spider species are social and tend to gather.  House spiders are usually non-aggressive and non-territorial.  But, living alone still enables them to be able to catch enough food without the need to share with others.  Hence, house spiders are solitary insects and do not live in groups.

 

Hazel Buckley
Hazel Buckley

About Hazel Buckley
Hazel is an animal enthusiast and educator who grew up on a farm which her parents owned in Ingogo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.  The farm was situated right under the Majuba Mountains - the site where the Anglo-Boer War was fought. 

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