Experts say a 1,000-foot-long spider web is just a summer orgy

Greece’s quiet beaches are ideal summer destinations, especially for hungry, web-flying spiders. Residents of Aitlico, an island village in western Greece located between two bridges, recently woke up to find their local beach replaced by such lustful spider behavior. I made it

In a spooky video posted yesterday (September 18) by YouTube user Giannis Giannakopoulos, the bizarre fruits of the Greek spider love festival appear in the form of a gigantic network of webs 1,000 feet (300 meters) long. can be seen taking on the coast. Shrubs shrug under silk netting. Palm leaves hang entwined on an unstoppable bad hair day. And underneath, a pair of spiders are busy building, eating, and, of course, breeding.

Greek news website Newsit.gr has asked biology experts for their opinion on this chain of conspiracies. According to Maria Chatzaki, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Democritus in Thrace, it’s a seasonal occurrence. [Goliath Birdeater: Images of a Colossal Spider]

“The phenomenon we observed at Aitlico is not unprecedented,” Chatzaki said in an interview with Newsit (translated from Greek). It is a seasonal phenomenon that occurs mainly in late summer and early autumn and is caused by spiders of the Arachnid genus. Tetragunata.”

Mating of two spiders of the genus Tetragnatha.

Mating of two spiders of the genus Tetragnatha. (Image credit: D. Kucharski K. Kucharska/Shutterstock)

Tetragunata Spiders are sometimes called “stretch spiders” because of their long, egg-shaped bodies.They live all over the world near water habitats and are prolific web builders. Agrinionews.grNot only for catching prey such as flies and mosquitoes, but also for building nests.

It’s ephemeral, beautiful, a kind of gross spectacle…that’s the nature of summer flapping. [under these webs]Chatzaki told the Newsit, “Clearly this is the result of favorable conditions that have made this overpopulation possible.”

Spiders of the genus Tetragnatha mate under these webs.

Spiders of the genus Tetragnatha mate under these webs. (Image credit: Courtesy Agrinionews.gr)

The warm climate and high humidity of the Greek coast, as well as the abundance of mosquito-shaped prey, help create strong breeding conditions for spiders, Chatzaki said. Aitlico’s amorous spiders will continue to mate long enough to secure the next generation, and then die without causing lasting damage to humans or the environment.

Originally published in Live Science.

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Experts say a 1,000-foot-long spider web is just a summer orgy

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