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buidontwantausername t1_iuvphgs wrote

Tangentially related to this subject are Social or Colony spiders. These all live communally in a large web complex constructed over time by many different members of the colony. So not all spiders exclusively make just their own web.

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AmayaMaka5 t1_iuwh1vs wrote

You know I don't GENERALLY have a problem with spiders but for some reason the idea of colony spiders scares me.

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Yeuph t1_iuxh174 wrote

Some colony spiders like the Bagheera kiplingi have pretty incredible societies - at least from a spider perspective. They even seem to have a learned culture that disappears if you remove them from their colony - in that they forget the cooperative methods they use having male spiders guard young spiderlings while mama goes for a snack; and it's not exclusive to their own children. They all just work cooperatively to make their mamosa plant host a safe place.

If you remove them from being raised around their colony they don't really exhibit the same cooperative behaviors - literally spider culture

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Just_a_dick_online t1_iuwlfch wrote

Right? I always take comfort seeing one spider and thinking "Well he's probably territorial which means there are probably no more spiders around". The thought of one being a sign of more is just too much.

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Alis451 t1_iuwtuma wrote

> Well he's probably territorial

most spiders you see are probably females, the males are generally smaller, more skittish and hide more.

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aptom203 t1_iuxa3jy wrote

And tend to get eaten by females, sometimes after getting lucky, often not.

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ctrlaltcreate t1_iuxjc6j wrote

Semi-off topic, but you should really watch Arachnophobia. Great movie.

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notsurewhatsunique3 t1_iv09qc3 wrote

You should check out children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's a pretty interesting sci Fi book imo

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charlesdexterward t1_iuwttdy wrote

Is that’s what’s happening when you see a tree that’s just completely covered in spider webs?

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sphhere t1_iuxfsj9 wrote

Tent caterpillars are the usually ones that create that mess on trees! an adult moth lays eggs on a tree and when the caterpillars emerge they all build the tent as a colony for protection

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