An Australian spider has been found to use its web as a fishing net to catch their prey<\/p>\n

Various species long-jawed orb-weavers are well known to construct their webs near to ponds and streams. But the new observations, published in Etholog<\/em>y, show that at least one sets snares that are in direct contact with the water, allowing them to catch water striders and other insects that live on the surface.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
9 UK household spiders and webs for you to spot<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
14 incredible spider facts<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
John Gould, who led the work at Australia\u2019s University of Newcastle<\/a>, says it\u2019s not yet clear whether the webs are attached to structures below the surface, to floating algae or directly to the water itself. \u201cWe suspect that it is a combination of these attachment points that are used in conjunction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
According to Geoff Oxford of the British Arachnological Society<\/a>, the UK is home to several species of long-jawed orb-weavers, at least two of which are associated with water. \u201cIt would be worth looking out for this phenomenon,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Read more on the study<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
Meet more spiders and learn more spider facts<\/h4>\n
\n
Darwin\u2019s bark spider: meet the spider that eats her sexual partner<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Meet the purse-web spider, Britain\u2019s tarantula<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Spitting spider guide: where they live, how they kill their prey \u2013 and why they\u2019re called spitting spiders<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Why are people scared of spiders?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
What do spider palps do?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section> \n
Main image \u00a9 John Gould john.gould@newcastle.edu.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A long-jawed orb-weaver spider has uses its web to catch aquatic insects <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25955,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net.jpg",1200,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net.jpg",1200,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/how-an-australian-spider-uses-its-web-as-a-fishing-net.jpg",1200,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A long-jawed orb-weaver spider has uses its web to catch aquatic insects","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}