It's raining SPIDERS! Video shows moment sky filled with tiny webs after wind blew arachnids loose in Brazil



Video shows spiders appearing to rain down - but are actually suspended via a huge web

Anelosimus eximius, a rare 'social' spider form large webs which can be caught by wind and 'dropped' in unusual places

It is an arachnophobes worst night - stepping outside to find it is 'raining' spiders.

The astonishing sight was captured on video by Santo Antonio da Platina, a town about 250 miles west of Sao Paulo, by local resident Erick Reis, a 20 year old web designer.

'I was shooting an engagement party for some friends of mine and I saw the spiders when I was leaving, now in the late afternoon,' he told local TV station TV450000, which posted the footage to YouTube.

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The astonishing video reveals a sky full of small spiders. The animals, one of the very few social species of spider, form swarms of upto 50,000 insects

The video zooms in on the spiders, revealing just how many there are. The animals are one of the very few species of spider that are sociable

A SOCIAL SPIDER

Scientists have found around 40,000 species of spiders around the world - but only 23 species are scattered around the world that are known to swarm, like ants or bees.

Females often outnumber males 10 to 1 in colonies that can exceed 50,000 individuals. The species’ webs can stretch from the ground up to tree canopies or human constructions 65 feet high.

'I've never seen anything like it before.'



Erick said that the spiders were trapped in webs and moved a lot.



The video reveals thousands of then moving up and down webs, appearing to fall from the sky.



Experts later identified the arachnids as Anelosimus eximius, which is extremely rare in the spider world as it is a social spider.

They are usually in trees during the day and in the late afternoon and early evening construct a giant sheets of webs, in order to trap insects.

Marta Fischer, a biologist who specializes in spiders at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná , examined the picture and said that the phenomenon is normal and occurs mainly in the cities of São Paulo.

'This type of spider is known to be quite social,' she said.



'They are usually in trees during the day and in the late afternoon and early evening construct sort of giant sheets of webs, in order to trap insects.'



Scientists have found around 40,000 species of spiders around the world - but only 23 species are scattered around the world that are known to swarm, like ants or bees.

Females often outnumber males 10 to 1 in colonies that can exceed 50,000 individuals.

The species’ webs can stretch from the ground up to tree canopies or human constructions 65 feet high.



If strong winds come along, the web may detach from its anchors, carrying the spiders and their ruined home to new sites where they appear to 'rain down.'

