Pictures: Trees Cocooned in Spider Webs After Flood

Steely Dan · Apr 2, 2011

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110331-pakistan-flood-spider-trees-webs

Here's a couple of pictures. There's a lot more at the link.

pakistan-floods-drive-spiders-into-trees-adult_34026_600x450.jpg

pakistan-floods-drive-spiders-into-trees-close-up_34028_600x450.jpg

Trees shrouded in ghostly cocoons line the edges of a submerged farm field in the Pakistani village of Sindh, where 2010's massive floods drove millions of spiders into the trees to spin their webs.

Beginning last July, unprecedented monsoons dropped nearly ten years' worth of rainfall on Pakistan in one week, swelling the country's rivers. The water was slow to recede, creating vast pools of stagnant water across the countryside....

I don't want to be around when they decide to come back to the ground.

Truthwillsetufree · Apr 2, 2011

Steely Dan said:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110331-pakistan-flood-spider-trees-webs

Here's a couple of pictures. There's a lot more at the link.

Trees shrouded in ghostly cocoons line the edges of a submerged farm field in the Pakistani village of Sindh, where 2010's massive floods drove millions of spiders into the trees to spin their webs.

Beginning last July, unprecedented monsoons dropped nearly ten years' worth of rainfall on Pakistan in one week, swelling the country's rivers. The water was slow to recede, creating vast pools of stagnant water across the countryside....

I don't want to be around when they decide to come back to the ground.

OMG...my Freak A Meter is in total overdrive! I have never seen anything so grotesque in all my life. It is just unbelievable. I know it isn't the "green" thing to do or the environmental/earthy thing but I say bring back DDT and kill these buggers!

Steely Dan · Apr 2, 2011

Flamethrowers are more environmentally friendly. :innocent:

peeples · Apr 2, 2011

Wowsa

sassy_texasbelle2 · Apr 2, 2011

Steely Dan said:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110331-pakistan-flood-spider-trees-webs

Here's a couple of pictures. There's a lot more at the link.

Trees shrouded in ghostly cocoons line the edges of a submerged farm field in the Pakistani village of Sindh, where 2010's massive floods drove millions of spiders into the trees to spin their webs.

Beginning last July, unprecedented monsoons dropped nearly ten years' worth of rainfall on Pakistan in one week, swelling the country's rivers. The water was slow to recede, creating vast pools of stagnant water across the countryside....

I don't want to be around when they decide to come back to the ground.

SHUDDER
Just seeing one Daddy Long Legs in the bathroom sends me screaming out the door for hubby.

Kat · Apr 3, 2011

HAHAHA I just called my youngest daughter down to look at the pics. She hates spiders. I'm an evil Mom bwahahaha.

Seriously, I don't like spiders although I'm not afraid of them at all but I think I wouldn't be standing there under a bough for reals.

WhyaDuck? · Apr 3, 2011

I'm surprised at the negative reaction against these pictures. I actually think these are really neat.

Besides, if there are pools of stagnant water around, these spiders will be essential to keep the populations of various flies down. Otherwise, who knows how much malaria would run rampant when the flies and mosquitoes in the pools start hatching.

peeples · Apr 3, 2011

I think the photos are cool! I'v seen other ones like that taken in the rain forests before!

I don't LOVE spiders, my oldest son wants a tarantula though and we'll probably do that one day.. but i like that they eat bugs!!

Truthwillsetufree · Apr 3, 2011

WhyaDuck? said:
I'm surprised at the negative reaction against these pictures. I actually think these are really neat.

Besides, if there are pools of stagnant water around, these spiders will be essential to keep the populations of various flies down.

DDT the spiders and see how much malaria runs rampant when the flies and mosquitoes in the pools start hatching.

Well see? That's why I'm not in charge of the wildlife.

Truthwillsetufree · Apr 3, 2011

peeples said:
I think the photos are cool! I'v seen other ones like that taken in the rain forests before!

I don't LOVE spiders, my oldest son wants a tarantula though and we'll probably do that one day.. but i like that they eat bugs!!

Lots of tarantulas where I live, not in town but out in the country....scary!

tapu · Apr 3, 2011

I recall, growing up in Appalachia, large webs or clouds similar to this hanging from our trees. We used to burn them, no doubt damaging the trees, but I think the trees would have been damaged by the web sacs or what was in them. Anyone here know what these were??
________________________________

Ah, found it: the Fall Webworm. Okay, this may win the prize for "Really-Gross-Things-You-Don't-Want-As-Part-of-Your Habitat." (Not a contest anyone really wants to win.)

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/fall_webworm.htm

scroll down for images on the right. couldn't that next-to-last one turn your stomach? Okay, now imagine them writhing around when you burn them!

Uh-oh, my inner Appalachian child is showing.

Dark Knight · Apr 3, 2011

tapu said:
I recall, growing up in Appalachia, large webs or clouds similar to this hanging from our trees. We used to burn them, no doubt damaging the trees, but I think the trees would have been damaged by the web sacs or what was in them. Anyone here know what these were??
________________________________

Ah, found it: the Fall Webworm. Okay, this may win the prize for "Really-Gross-Things-You-Don't-Want-As-Part-of-Your Habitat." (Not a contest anyone really wants to win.)

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/fall_webworm.htm

scroll down for images on the right. couldn't that next-to-last one turn your stomach? Okay, now imagine them writhing around when you burn them!

Uh-oh, my inner Appalachian child is showing.

You found it right as I was about to tell you what they were, lol. My grandma taught me how to burn them when I was a child, too, and yes, they always writhed around and fell to the ground by the hundreds as we burned them. She often would soak a corn cob in kerosene and stick it on the end of a pole to do the job. Not sure why burning was so popular as Raid does the job, I am told. If they are low enough, it would have been better for the tree to cut the branch off first and toss them into a burning barrel.

gogrannypop · Apr 3, 2011

tapu, maybe they were tent worms.

stilettos · Apr 3, 2011

Steely Dan said:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110331-pakistan-flood-spider-trees-webs

Here's a couple of pictures. There's a lot more at the link.

Trees shrouded in ghostly cocoons line the edges of a submerged farm field in the Pakistani village of Sindh, where 2010's massive floods drove millions of spiders into the trees to spin their webs.

Beginning last July, unprecedented monsoons dropped nearly ten years' worth of rainfall on Pakistan in one week, swelling the country's rivers. The water was slow to recede, creating vast pools of stagnant water across the countryside....

I don't want to be around when they decide to come back to the ground.

That's really bad, 'kay? I be skeered of spiders. Grandpa used to say not to kill them cause they eat bugs. Never saw a decrease in bug population so I say kill them all. I just threw up in my mouth.

WhyaDuck? · Apr 3, 2011

I remember seeing those tent worm things as a kid, but my folks never did anything about them, and they never seemed to do any harm. Of course, we lived in the woods, so perhaps my folks were more concerned about bears or something.

But, thanks - I never knew that some people burned them out.

tapu · Apr 3, 2011

We wouldn't have used Raid because we were "hill people." Besides, burning them was big entertainment back there! Yes, DK, you're right--I remember them burning by the hundreds and dropping to the ground. Man, there just ain't that kinda fun no more, ya know?

tapu · Apr 3, 2011

gogrannypop said:
tapu, maybe they were tent worms.

Oh, we had them, too. I remember we'd run into them in the "crotch" of a tree when we climbed it.

(I sure am glad I am so very sophisticated now.) :giggle:

tapu · Apr 3, 2011

gogrannypop said:
tapu, maybe they were tent worms.

Oh, we had them, too. I remember we'd run into them in the "crotch" of a tree when we climbed it.

(I sure am glad I am so very sophisticated now.) :giggle:

norest4thewicked · Apr 3, 2011

After our big flood last May in Nashville, the brown recluses that lived in the basements of the old riverside buildings downtown were displaced. For a while, people were seeing brown recluses where they'd never seen them before. I heard the story of a brand new building on higher ground near the riverside had seen a couple of them and so they had those sticky bug catchers down everywhere. They caught HUNDREDS of them in those. *shudder*

Steely Dan · Apr 3, 2011

sassy_texasbelle2 said:
SHUDDER
Just seeing one Daddy Long Legs in the bathroom sends me screaming out the door for hubby.

That's the man's job. Bug killer.

stilettos said:
That's really bad, 'kay? I be skeered of spiders. Grandpa used to say not to kill them cause they eat bugs. Never saw a decrease in bug population so I say kill them all. I just threw up in my mouth.

For the first 9 years of my life I lived in Delaware (but I consider myself a Rochestarian.) and there were things like that on the trees that hatched harmless caterpillars.

Pictures: Trees Cocooned in Spider Webs After Flood

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