Science in the news

Google news found over 282 stories on the web today about a huge spider web in texas. Most articles were very simple- they told of the place(Lake Tawakoni State Park), speculation about which variety of spider created the web(no one seemed to know), and finished off with speculation about why it happened(voodoo? new variety of Spider?).
After some searching, I finally found a web page created by the Park Ranger who found the web. Turns out it's a lot less mysterious than I thought. The spider is actually a well known one: its a member of the long-jawed orb-weavers(see photos here and here. The bug guide is a wonderful tool when you're trying to figure out what that wierd bug is that's crawling up your window). We don't have the same species of spider here in California, but we do have spiders that to the unexpert eye, look exactly like it. Check out the photo of the web these spiders wove:


According to this web site there are over 25 species of lon-jawed orb-weavers in the United States. There's got to be one in Novato..