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WILLS POINT, Texas (AP) -- Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park.
Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't go anywhere near it.
"At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, superintendent of the park about 45 miles east of Dallas. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs."
Spider experts say the web may have been constructed by social cobweb spiders, which work together, or could be the result of a mass dispersal in which the arachnids spin webs to spread out from one another.
"I've been hearing from entomologists from Ohio, Kansas, British Columbia -- all over the place," said Mike Quinn, an invertebrate biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who first posted photos online.
Herbert A. "Joe" Pase, a Texas Forest Service entomologist, said the massive web is very unusual.
"From what I'm hearing it could be a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said.
But John Jackman, a professor and extension entomologist for Texas A&M University, said he hears reports of similar webs every couple of years.
"There are a lot of folks that don't realize spiders do that," said Jackman, author of "A Field Guide to the Spiders and Scorpions of Texas."
"Until we get some samples sent to us, we really won't know what species of spider we're talking about," Jackman said.
Garde invited the entomologists out to the park to get a firsthand look at the giant web.
"Somebody needs to come out that's an expert. I would love to see some entomology intern come out and study this," she said.
Park rangers said they expect the web to last until fall, when the spiders will start dying off.
fo spiders. we've got a massive one in our house in the moment and nobody's quite willing to kill it because it'll presumably explode with a pus like liquid. so instead we're letting it roam the house until we move out
I was outside the back door the other night, and a quite large bug got caught in a spiders web... it was only a small spider, the bug must have been at least 5 times bigger.
I stood there watching as the bug struggled to break free, and the spider was waiting patiently for it to get immobilised before it started eating.
I hung around to see the kill... and the bug managed to break free! I was well disappointed!
There was a huge spider in my room a week or 2 back. Tried to catch it in a pint glass but it was so big it wouldn't properly fit in and I had to break a couple of its legs. Bottled it first time I went for it, it was too big.
Originally posted by Cottager:
fo spiders. we've got a massive one in our house in the moment and nobody's quite willing to kill it because it'll presumably explode with a pus like liquid. so instead we're letting it roam the house until we move out
That's worse than looking at a cracked mirror or walking under a ladder. You can't kill a spider knowingly.
There was a massive spider (1 1/2 inches - 2 inches across inc legs) in my room the other week, it fell off of the wall and moved into an open watch box that I had on my desk. I close the lid of the box feeling all proud for catching it so easily. Then I took it outside and opened it to let it out and it wasn't there. Didn't sleep that night.
OTF worse nightmare "Monster Spider Web" 
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