![]() They build their nests near water because that is where they will find their prey, mayflies and like insects that thrive near the water, he said. Orb weaver webs can be found among the rocks and shrubs at Lake Nighthorse and near creeks in the San Juan National Forest, Schwarz said. They typically live along the edges of water in riparian environments and build their webs partway over the water’s surface. Long-jawed orb weavers belong to a family of spiders called Tetragnathidae that is widespread across the United States. Something you just don’t appreciate unless you get to look at them up close and personal like that.” “They have these specialized types of lungs called book lungs that they use for gas exchange,” he said. The spiders were “beautiful” their abdomens would gently expand and retract as they breathed. That’s when he truly became fascinated with them, he said. Schwarz would place the orb weavers under a microscope to observe their biology up close. Spider webs also glint in the dark when struck by light, which makes them fairly easy to locate, he said. And those are spider eyes looking back at you,” he said. ![]() “They have this eye shine, so if you are out at night with a flashlight and you shine it around, especially at the ground, you’ll see these sort of blue-green glimmerings sometimes. Rummaging through the brush in the dark of night for something less than an inch large might not sound like a fruitful activity, but it was the easiest way to find the them, Schwarz said. He remembered hiking through a Hawaiian forest at night to find and study the orb weavers. But when he had the chance to study a species known as the long-jawed orb weaver spider on the islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawai’i, his interest in the eight-legged animal sparked. Schwarz hadn’t given spiders much thought. The spiders are common across the United States and make web nests in riparian areas near streams, rivers and other bodies of water such as Lake Nighthorse, he said. ![]() Ryan Schwarz, associate biology professor at Fort Lewis College, has studied long-jaw orb weavers for years. Instead of fearing spiders, Schwarz hopes people might take time to observe them and appreciate their beauty, like he did as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona. Even the western black widow, the most dangerous spider native to Colorado because of its potent latrotoxin (a neurotoxin used to paralyze prey), is a passive species unlikely to bite a human unless it is suddenly disturbed. Some species, such as funnel weavers, yellow sacs and even black widows are prone to navigating indoors when autumn arrives with cooler temperatures, according to the CSU Extension Office.īut that’s no reason to fret – most spiders in the Centennial State are harmless, said Ryan Schwarz, associate biology professor at Fort Lewis College. Southwest Colorado is home to a diverse cast of spiders and arachnids, including several iconic species such as tarantulas, the notorious black widow and bizarre-looking wind scorpions. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)Īlthough store-bought decorative cobwebs are aplenty outside homes across Durango with Halloween less than two weeks away, the real deals might be waiting in a dark corner near you. They feed on bothersome insects such as flies and mosquitoes, lay their eggs in sacs along their webs and might venture into homes as fall arrives and temperatures drop, according to the CSU Extension Office. While female widows pack a venomous bite and are potentially harmful to humans, they have a passive demeanor and prefer to stay out of the way of humans. Black widow spiders are misunderstood animals.
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