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You know what's more terrifying than spiders slipping into your house in the middle of the night? Spiders in the freaking sky, man.
The Guardian on Friday reported recent stories of such an event in Brazil, where people reportedly claimed "raining spiders". A recently shared Facebook video of the phenomenon in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais seems to show hundreds of spiders hanging in the air – like something coming out of your worst arachnid nightmares.
The video was filmed by João Pedro Martinelli Fonseca, 14, according to local media, Terra do Mandu. Dona Jercina Martinelli, the teenager's grandmother, said on the site that there were "many more canvases and thousands of spiders than what appears in the video," according to an English translation.
As terrifying as it may be, it is obviously something that is common to the species parawixia bistriata and occurs during the hottest and wettest periods of the year, according to the Guardian, citing the professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and specialist in arachnology, Adalberto Santos. These arachnids would be social creatures that would unite to create a mbadive network that they would use to catch food. Terra do Mandu reported that reporting reports of "flying spiders" could be the result of a qualified behavior of ballooning.
Some spiders use the balloon to catch wind gusts and ride the skies; Watching these tiny little crab-spiders is actually quite terrifying (even though their presence in the heavens is, you know, not). And reader, I very much regret having to tell you that these are hardly the only spiders that "fly". In fact, these creatures are quite enterprising; spiders can even sail for the love of God.
Cheryl Hayashi, a spider biologist at the American Museum of Natural History, told Gizmodo that witnessing this phenomenon "provides insights into how spiders have evolved to achieve this feat: they literally navigate through air. "
Incredible evolutionary success despite all, none of us would be forgiven for being confused by airborne spiders.
[Terra do Mandu via The Guardian]Source link
