A viral video is giving many people the heebie-jeebies, as it appears to show hundreds of airborne spiders forming a wall in the sky.
While the sight can be alarming to those with arachnophobia, experts say the "raining spiders" phenomenon can happen when warm weather hits the area of southern Brazil, where the video was taken, The Guardian reported.
João Pedro Martinelli Fonseca told a local newspaper he was traveling with his family in Espírito Santo do Dourado when he realized the sky was covered with black dots. While he was "stunned and scared," he told the newspaper, he took a video of the spider-filled sky and posted it to Facebook.
Fonesca's grandmother, Jercina Martinelli, told the newspaper, “There were many more webs and spiders than you can see in the video. We’ve seen this before, always at dusk on days when it’s been really hot.”
The creepy tendency of these spiders to take to the air is common of the species parawixia bistriata during warm and humid weather, Federal University of Minas Gerais professor and arachnology specialist Adalberto Santos told The Guardian.
The spiders tend to be social, and at night, they band together to form a large web to catch food, Santos said. Spiders who appear to be flying are actually "ballooning," or using web to catch gusts of air and glide, Gizmodo reported.
And to those who hate spiders, be reassured -- these spiders' venom isn't harmful to humans, according to Santos.
“They benefit us far more than they harm us,” he said.
About the Author
