Thousands of small yellow spiders have been spotted all over the United Kingdom in what seems to be an invasion of arachnids.
People from different parts of the country have photographed clusters of these tiny bugs creeping in areas of their homes such as in door handles, walls, bins and plants.
The cumbersome species have been identified as garden spiders. These bright yellow arachnids are the offspring of the common cross orbweaver spiders (Araneus diadematus), which are known to lay 300 to 800 eggs every autumn.
When a mother orbweaver spider finishes laying its tiny eggs, it will then cover the eggs with a dense layer of silk and fragments fecal matter and other dead organisms called detritus. This is done to keep the eggs safe all throughout the winter until the spiderlings hatch during spring and the early part of summer.
The natural predators of the garden spiders include birds, lizards, shrews and several types of wasps.
The ones photographed by locals in the U.K. are only a few days old and will eventually become bigger.
While generally harmless to humans, the British Arachnological Society (BAS) has issued an advisory to locals about handling these small critters.
"If disturbed, the bundle of babies will 'explode', with individual spiderlings dispersing away from each other on tiny silken safety lines," the BAS said.
"Once the danger has passed, they climb back up the web and form a clump again."
"Before emerging from their egg sac, the spiderlings moult once."
"Once emerged, they remain together until they have moulted yet again and grown big enough to be independent."
In May, thousands of baby spiders descended upon the town of Goulburn, Australia, causing widespread fear among residents.
The phenomenon was later identified by spider experts as part of the natural migration of spiders known as ballooning.
Rick Vetter, a retired arachnologist from the University of California, Riverside, explained that during this migration, a large number of spiders often climb high areas and release silk through their behind.
The eight-legged creatures would then jump off to move on to another area to continue their journey.
According to scientists, ballooning often involves hundreds of spiders moving from one place to another, but they rarely land on the same place on the same spot at the same time.
Photo: Gido | Flickr
