DailyDirt: Arachnids In Unexpected Places

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Sep 3rd 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

It's never fun to walk unexpectedly into a spider web because you didn't see it. And even if you're not a true arachnophobe, it's still a bit unsettling to see a spider scurry across a wall or the floor in the way only an eight-legged creature can. If you genuinely like spiders, then you perhaps these stories on finding arachnids in unexpected places will be fascinating. Otherwise, maybe you'd better not read on.

There are arachnids on your face. Right. Now. Seriously. Okay, so microscopic arachnids -- distantly related to spiders and ticks -- that live in your facial pores (and on nearly every mammal on the planet) aren't visible to the naked eye and are generally harmless, but still. [url]
In 2013, in the Brazilian town of Santo Antonio da Platina, spiders built a big web overhead and the spiders crawled around a disturbingly large area where it looked like spiders were just floating in the sky. A biologist identified the spiders as Anelosimus eximius and said this wasn't an unusual event for other cities like Sao Paulo -- so you've been warned, folks. [url]
Mazda issued a recall for 42,000 cars because the yellow sac spider likes to crawl into Mazda engines through a fuel tank hose and potentially cause a fire. Apparently, these particular spiders like Mazda vehicles because this isn't the only recall issued due to these little guys crawling into Mazdas. Zoom-Zoom! Yikes! [url]

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Filed Under: anelosimus eximius, animals, arachnids, arachnophobia, biology, car recalls, spiders
Companies: mazda

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Anonymous Coward, 3 Sep 2014 @ 6:08pm

i used to have a ford crown vic that i simply adored. problem was i wasn't the only creature attracted to it. after the third deer strike i finally threw in the towel. the car had mega-miles on it, so it was about due anyway, but the deer landing in my grille did the trick regarding the timing.

i have no clue why deer were attracted to that car, but numerous times in the very late day i saw deer trotting toward me. then twice in the dead of night at highway speed i was clobbered by deer at hard gallop. as i said, one actually launched and landed in my grille. the other, a huge mule deer, struck the right side of my car just about at the windshield and rotated with the body crashing just at midline so hard that it squeaked my tires and made for a squirrelly moment or two. the guy who replaced my mirror said he couldn't see how i kept control. hitting right at midline was how. a little farther forward or aft and no way i could control it.

at least it was deer and not spiders. ewwww.
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Rekrul, 3 Sep 2014 @ 10:25pm

I'm a night owl and sometimes go out for a late night bike ride. While riding around on residential streets in the suburbs I usually get at least a dozen spider webs in my face. They must build them across the street during the night.
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trekological, 4 Sep 2014 @ 5:58am

umm
wtf you mean "generally harmless"
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Sep 2014 @ 12:15pm

Re:
They're more likely ballooning than building a web.
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Michael Ho (profile), 4 Sep 2014 @ 12:36pm

Re: umm
From the article.. these tiny arachnids are only known to cause rosacea and blepharitis in humans (and mange in mammals with fur). So not life-threatening stuff.
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