Wierd structures in Amazon

Z...

Z...

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
_http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/weird-weblike-thing/?mbid=social11521844

Something in the Peruvian Amazon is making weird, intricate structures that resemble white picket fences surrounding an Isengard-like spire.

No one has any idea who the mysterious craftsbug (fungus? spider?) is, or what the structure is even used for, excepting the fence part, which almost makes sense. Nobody, not even the scientists.
 
A nest of some sort maybe? I wonder if anything will come out of the middle thing.
A fence is protecting what's in the middle so it must be important to whomever created this.
 
Herr Eisenheim said:
_http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/weird-weblike-thing/?mbid=social11521844

Something in the Peruvian Amazon is making weird, intricate structures that resemble white picket fences surrounding an Isengard-like spire.

No one has any idea who the mysterious craftsbug (fungus? spider?) is, or what the structure is even used for, excepting the fence part, which almost makes sense. Nobody, not even the scientists.
Click to expand...

Maybe it is a spider trying to save a pig! Lol....... sorry could not help myself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte's_Web
 
Wow, pretty neat! Definitely looks like a cocoon with extra protection to me.

cocoon_1100.JPG
 
Thanks for sharing and it is really fascinating. Eventually they should take samples, observe it (camera which takes every few hours pictures?)?
 
Pretty darn strange-I am thinking the "fence" may be to deter crawling predatory insects, such as ants and the "spire" with the guy wire type threads is to protect the base (which may house eggs or larva) from flying predators...maybe the bugs have their own version of HAARP... :P really goes to show how much we do NOT know about this planet we call home
 
Wow really fascinating! It's a clever protective design, from a tactical perspective. At the center would most likely be eggs or a store of whatever food this creature eats. Unlike a spider's web, this little home can be built on flat surface and so doesn't depend on having "rafters". The fence would surely be to ward off not just predators, but also gathering insects (such as ants), which makes me wonder if the web is laced with some kind of irritant. Considering the millions of years that flying insects have been dealing spiders, I think it's also possible that fibers trailing off the central spire could be enough to scare them off should they fly into it. If the creature is spider-like, and can sense through those fibers, it might then be possible to detect invaders attempting to breach the fence from atop the spire.
 
It reminds me of the bowers built by male bower birds to attract a mate.

Perhaps this could be an 'insect version'? Maybe an adaptation by a fungi along the lines of a venus flytrap or pitcher plant?

Has anyone tried to look at it under different kinds of light? The article is a little frustrating to me that way. Too much head scratching and not enough information. ;D
 
A group of scientist went back and investigated to find that these structures are made by an unidentified "Jumping Spider"

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/web-tower-mystery-solved/
 
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