City living makes spiders big, fat and fertile, researchers say

[RandySF]

Sure enough, the more urban the area, the bigger, fatter and more potentially fecund the spiders were. The researchers think this is in part because spiders tend to do better in warmer environments, and cities are "urban heat islands": Concrete and buildings tend to absorb heat rather than dissipate it the way moist earth and vegetation do.

It’s also possible that tasty insect meals tend to cluster near city lights, making them easier to catch, or that there tends to be a higher density in the boundaries between the fragmented patches of urban and wild lands.

Oddly enough, the spiders seemed to prefer luxurious living: Ovary weight also increased in areas with higher socioeconomic status.

“The increased expenditure and management of parks in wealthy suburbs could result in healthier vegetation patches,” the researchers wrote, “which would increase prey abundance and allow spiders to grow larger and build up fat reserves.”


http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-urban-spider-cities-golden-orb-weaving-20140820-story.html

[redwitch]

1. Well isn't that good news!

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Glad I live in the country!

[geek tragedy]

2. fewer things that eat spiders too nt

[Brigid]

3. Then how come . . .

I have been living in the city for years now, and the biggest spiders I have ever seen are still the ones I saw as a kid living in the country?

[RandySF]

4. I don't know about city vs. country

but they are are bigger in California than they were in Michigan.

[Luminous Animal]

5. Yep. While growing up in Michigan, I never saw such huge spiders as I do in San Francisco.

[RandySF]

6. One almost nested on my wife's head.

My son and I watched with a combination of horror and fascination as a good sized spider steadily descended from the ceiling to the top of her head. Fortunately, I got my head together and intercepted it before it reached its destination.

Side note: I'm dealing with a nasty bite I got from a spider at work at UC, Berkeley. I hope it wasn't radioactive.

[Luminous Animal]

7. When a friend of mine had her chimney removed, spiders galore!

One bit her near the top of her leg which resulted in a nasty crater like wound.

And what?! You don't want to be Spiderman?

[beam me up scottie]

9. LMAO!

Some people would have filmed it and put it on YouTube.

[Politicalboi]

8. I have a lot of webs around my house

I've seen 3 black widows and they weren't after me, so I leave them alone. Sometimes while I'm smoking outside, I'll have a pesky fly bug me. I try and stun the fly, and I throw them in the web with the daddy long leg type of spider. I like to feed the spiders with pesky flies.

[beam me up scottie]

10. I recently relocated one fat black widow and her three huge egg sacks.

It was raining when I found her and by the next morning the entire jar was crawling with hundreds of baby widows.

She was nesting right next to our crawl space vent.

[SheilaT]

11. WHY would you relocate and not kill?

I have black widow spiders in my little house, and trust me, I kill them every time I see one.

[beam me up scottie]

12. I don't kill anything I don't have to.

Once gone she was no longer a threat.

I did kill an uncooperative widow that had taken up residence inside our gate latch; we have to stick our fingers in there every day and I was unable to catch her.