Grey Cross Spider

Fascinating facts about the Grey Cross Spider

• The grey cross-spider spins a circular orb that can reach a diameter of up to 70 cm. It builds these massive traps primarily on steel structures such as bridges, often positioning them close to artificial lights, and expands the web's capture area when prey is abundant.
• In the most favourable feeding locations the grey cross-spider can reach densities of about 100 individuals per square metre, turning a single bridge patch into a bustling spider community. These concentrations occur where artificial lights attract large numbers of insects, providing a steady food supply. Because such illuminated sites are common in cities, many urban areas have become saturated with the species.
• Chironomid midges dominate the diet of the grey cross-spider, making up to 94 % of its prey intake, so its meals are almost entirely these tiny flies. The captured insects range in size from about 1.2 mm to 6.8 mm, matching the spider's preference for small dipterans. Even though the mesh height of its web averages around 2 mm, the spider does not target larger prey, focusing instead on the abundant small flies.
• Its webs are markedly asymmetrical, with the lower capture-thread radii larger than those in the upper half, giving the spider easier access to prey that falls near the bottom. This size difference becomes more pronounced as the spider gains weight and ages, because the unequal web sizes reflect the spider's easier accessibility to captured prey in the lower regions and the asymmetry increases with spider weight and age.
• The species uses ballooning, releasing silk threads into the wind to travel to preferable feeding areas.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Grey Cross Spider

In the silky threads of its intricate web, the Grey Cross Spider weaves a masterful snare, suspended with calculated precision amidst the lush verdure of its surroundings. With deliberate, economical movements, this agile arachnid navigates the delicate latticework of its domain, ever-vigilant for the telltale tremors that signal the entrapment of an unsuspecting prey. As the sun casts its golden light upon the dew-kissed web, the Grey Cross Spider's remarkable engineering feat is transformed into a dazzling spectacle of refracted light and shadow.

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