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A newly discovered species of spider living in Madagascar makes the world's longest known web, spanning 25meters.
The spider also makes the largest orb web yet found for any spider, and constructs it out of the most tough biomaterial yet known, say scientists.
Darwin's bark spider, a species new to science, weaves its huge web over flowing rivers, stretching from bank to bank.
It is so big that it can catch 30 or more prey insects at any one time.
Darwin's bark spider weaves what experts call an orb web, the most familiar spider web design.
...
How the spiders spin such a huge web above water, and how they anchor their drag lines on either side of a river, is currently being researched.
Many of the webs showed obvious signs of damage and repair, while others had large open holes, suggesting that the spider maintains each web for several days.
Most orb weaving spiders take down and reconstruct their webs each day.
[via BBC Earth News]
