What Kind of Spiders Make Huge Webs?

Types

• Not all spiders weave webs. Some scurry across the ground looking for prey while others hide in dens or holes to leap out at unsuspecting insects and rodents. Webs are efficient tools for some spiders to catch their meals, and they have been in existence for at least 140 million years based on a web found preserved in amber. Different kinds of spiders are capable of spinning several varieties of webs, including tangle webs or cobwebs, spiral orb webs, tubular webs, sheet webs, dome webs and funnel webs. The largest webs tend to be from spiral orb web and cobweb spiders..

Group Work

• The size of the spider has nothing to do with how big its web can be, especially if it has help. Many of the world's largest spiderwebs were the work of thousands of spiders. These communal creations are often of the cobweb variety. One such web was found in 2007 at a Texas state park. The 200-yard web at Lake Tawakoni State Park was the work of the Guatemalan long-jawed spider.

Largest

• The world's largest discovered web was found in 2010 in Madagascar. National Geographic reports the orb web stretched across a river in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. The 82-foot web was the work of a newly discovered species, the Darwin's bark spider. The giant web was not a creation of one spider but rather millions of Darwin's bark spiders working together. Scientists observed that the web could catch up to 30 insects at a time.

The Builders

• Darwin's bark spider is a small spider only found in Madagascar. The females are much larger than the males with the females about .8 inches long. The males register .23 inches in length. The spiders are a mottled, rough brown color that serves as excellent camouflage in their tree-filled habitat. Researchers reported the web was mostly the work of female spiders. Darwin's bark spiders feed on mayflies and dragonflies usually found hovering above bodies of water. The silk from this spider is 100 percent stronger than that of any other spiders' silk. It is the toughest biological material found yet.