'Alien eggs': Disturbing photo of pods in tree sparks debate online - but what are they?
A person has enlisted the help of the internet after discovering bizarre pods hanging from their macadamia tree.
“What in the ACTUAL F$?& are these?” the person wrote on a Hervey Bay Facebook group.
The photo shows five flesh-coloured, sack-like objects hanging from a web, and was presumably taken in the Hervey Bay area in Queensland.
“Alien eggs,” someone suggested, while a few other people were also quick to point their fingers at aliens.
“Looks like the aliens have arrived. Guess I didn’t need to stockpile all that toilet paper and pasta after all,” one woman said before clarifying she was joking.
However, other people had a more sensible, yet perhaps equally terrifying for some, ideas as to what left the peculiar pods hanging in the macadamia tree - spiders.
The Magnificent Spider from the Bolas family, in particular, was identified as a lead suspect.
It turns out there are three types of Bolas spiders which can be found in eastern Australia, including the Magnificent Spider, or Ordgarius magnificus.
“The Magnificent Spider, as one of the Bolas spider group, has evolved a highly sophisticated way of capturing prey using a single line of sticky silk to capture moths,” the Australian Museum says.
Yahoo News Australia reached out to Dr Lizzy Lowe, a researcher from Sydney’s Macquarie University who has studied spiders and she confirmed the pods do look to be the work of a bolas spider, which she said are “very cool” spiders.
Spiders known to visit suburban gardens
Apparently the spiders like to dwell in native trees in dry or wet sclerophyll forests, however they have been known to pop up in suburban gardens, the Australian Museum says.
This disturbing fact was backed up by people in the comments on the Facebook page.
“I had the same in my garden,” someone said.
“It’s a Bolas spider they look really gruesome, but interesting.”
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The Magnificent Spiders may prefer native trees their “characteristic spindle-shaped egg sacs” are often found nearby, according to the Australian Museum.
A single egg sac can contain 600 spider eggs, and the female spider will construct the sacs over several nights.
“The egg sacs are attached to a branch, and may number up to seven. They are often parasitised by wasps and flies,” the Australian Museum says.
“The mother spider usually dies off over winter. The baby spiders emerge in late winter to early spring and disperse by ballooning.”
Magnificent Spiders are not a threat to humans and the females are known for their unique markings.
Some suggest fiery death for baby spiders
While someone in the comments of the Facebook post said the spiders are fine and will get rid of mosquitoes, the most popular course of action seemed to be getting rid of the sac, with fire.
“Blow torch will fix them,” someone said.
“600 eggs each sack? Burn the whole damn tree,” another person suggested.
However, not everyone was scared by the prospect of baby spiders ‘ballooning’ out of the sacs.
“Those little guys are incredible, they skydive out of those sacs safely to the ground with web parachutes when they hatch,” someone said.
“Just leave them, pose no risk to you what so ever and the geckos need stuff to eat to.”
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