Well, there’s a species of spider
that grows and habitually live in colonies and formed spiders webs that can
reach amazingly 25 feet in height. The
spider name is Social Spider also called Anelosimus Eximius is spider who
socializes with its fellow spiders very quickly and builds giant spider webs
reaching approximately 25 feet and 5 feet in width. This spider normally found
in Brazil, but also found in South American countries from Panama to Argentina.
Anelosimus spiders have a notched red or brown band on their abdomen, which is dark
when preserved in alcohol, while the abdomen has a white band and/or white
blotches.
In fact this species of spider is
very cooperative and group living spider. Among the countless species of
spiders, there are only 23 spider’s species that live in social groups. This
giant spider webs can contain more than 50,000 spiders with females
outnumbering men 10 to 1. The Anelosimus Eximius spider is first discovered by
a French arachnologist named Eugene Simon 120 years ago. Moreover, according to
the Journal of Arachnology, this Brazilian spider exciting advantage is that
these social spiders acquire by building giant webs is that they can capture
prey which can be much larger in size than what a solitary spider would have
been able to catch.
These collective spiders work
together to build, maintain and clean their webs. The social spiders are prone
to heavy rains so making and maintaining mammoth webs is inevitable that leads
to spiders living together. Social
spiders tend to feed on heavy prey which cannot be done alone; therefore, the
need of being social comes into picture. Moreover, scientists have discovered
that the species did not need to overcome discrimination; both sub-social and
social species of arachnids showed no discrimination towards foreign offspring.
In 2013 in Santo Antonio da
Platina, Brazil, these spider webs housing large quantities of spiders were do
away with by strong winds that removed the webs from their anchors, thus,
carrying the spiders and their ruined home to new spots. This unique event led
to a “spider rain” in which Santo Antonio da Platina people observed spiders
raining from the sky. Moreover, within the built colonies, roles are segregated
for all the spiders-males and females alike.
Furthermore, some work as
“warriors”-those who act as raiders and attack the prey-while some work to
clean and keep the webs. Hence, social spiders are likely to have evolved from
sub-social ancestors through the sub-social route. It has been recommended that
the transition from sub-social to social living needs a change in three behavioral
traits: from premating dispersal (wherein juveniles are dispersed from the
colonies before breeding) to post-mating dispersal (wherein juveniles are
dispersed from the colonies after breeding), from outbreeding to inbreeding
mating system, and from maternal care to helpful breeding.
