# What insect made this, and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223 "2013-09-07T01:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/81 "2013-12-23T03:32:00Z")
Has anyone pointed out that it isn’t an insect that made it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/82 "2013-12-23T03:36:05Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Has anyone pointed out that it isn’t an insect that made it? You are even more pedantic than I. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/83 "2013-12-23T03:43:37Z")
Yeah but you are a friggin plant! ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/84 "2013-12-23T04:31:58Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Has anyone pointed out that it isn’t an insect that made it? In my own defense[sup]1[/sup], I didn’t know it was a spider when I posted, and I wasn’t about to list all the types of creepy-crawlies it \*might \*be in the title. [sup]1[/sup]I’m not an entomologist. As far as I’m concerned, in a general conversation, anything with more than 4 legs and an exoskeleton is an insect or a bug. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/85 "2013-12-23T04:44:13Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > … “Today we found 11 of these wild structures, and are about to solve this Amazon mystery”. Torres also shared a photo on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/philtorres1/posts/10101372665060015), stating “The mystery we’re solving by the hour- will update soon.” while true, that sounded more exciting than saying, “we’re waiting for the eggs to hatch.” > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The search party should have split up and searched the jungle. suggests the carnivorous plant. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/86 "2013-12-23T04:48:20Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > suggests the carnivorous plant. … who then found two teenaged members of the expedition having sex, and ate them. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/87 "2013-12-23T13:24:38Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > They found the camp deserted and in dissarray as if someone left in a hurry…also strange markings carved on a tree near by…“croatan”…authorities are puzzled and have no leads. 😉 I think you’ve misspelled a word; either they’ve gone to Croatoan, or the Croatians have taken them. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/88 "2013-12-23T14:18:56Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > … who then found two teenaged members of the expedition having sex, and ate them. One little mistake…well, two, I guess, technically. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/89 "2013-12-23T15:24:22Z")
So it was a cute little spider. That will grow up to be big enough to eat a whole human a la Arachnaphobia [I don’t know, they didn’t show an adult, just the baby.] ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/90 "2013-12-23T16:14:43Z")
Those things are just the protrusions into our dimension of vast hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional insectoid beings, who are preparing to take the final readout of the data from their great biogeological computer, which we call Earth. And then they will shut everything down. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/91 "2013-12-23T16:22:50Z")
\>\>Burp\<\< Excuse me? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/92 "2013-12-26T06:43:42Z")
[Updates](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/mysterious-structures-amazon/)! They still don’t know what kind of spider it is, but there’s tons of speculation along with confirmed sightings in multiple other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/93 "2013-12-26T10:17:11Z")
“Silkhenge”…I like it! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/94 "2013-12-26T10:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > “Some families can be identified clearly by eye arrangement,” said [Joe Lapp](http://spiderjoe.com/about), who used to **manage the spider collection** for the University of Texas in Austin. “Some families sport a variety of not-too-different eye arrangements that overlap with spider of other families.” Bolding mine … I have this wild mental image of teeny tiny cowboys with little horses and lassos doing a tiny spider drive … :smack:😛 ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/95 "2013-12-28T23:24:13Z")
And a little more information on [Phil Torres’ page](http://blog.perunature.com/2013/12/weve-solved-amazon-rainforest-mystery.html). If I read it correctly, this is the first known spider species to lay a single egg per egg sac, as well as being one of the few to abandon the egg once laid. ETA: Ooops. Not Phil Torres’ page. A page on the Rainforest Expeditions web site, article \*written \*by Phil Torres. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/96 "2014-01-03T02:04:38Z")
Ah, ha. [They ARE going to raise the ones they have and try to breed more.](http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/6599/20131230/silkhenge-spider-white-picket-fence-spire-egg-amazon-peru-tambopata.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/97 "2014-01-28T03:02:24Z")
Video footage of a hatching… [http://www.weather.com/video/amazon-mysterysolved-43069?collid=/news/science/nature](http://www.weather.com/video/amazon-mysterysolved-43069?collid=/news/science/nature) Did I need to Spoiler-hide that link? –G! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/98 "2014-01-30T01:21:11Z")
Cribellate Spider-man does whatever a spider can spins a web on a log makes a popular science blog. Perfect fence, tiny tower Made by some sort of unknown power. Though we don’t grok it yet It’s all over the Internet. Aliens? Earth’s revenge? What made this little silk Stonehenge? What does the Straight Dope say? Work of nature, or NSA? Finally, we realize It’s made by someone who dines on flies. At his scale, widely feared Humans just think his crib is weird. LOOK OUT, Cribellate Spider-man! HERE COMES, Cribellate Spider-man! ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/99 "2014-01-30T19:15:49Z")
**Sailboat** , I’m bumping this just so more people can read that. (And hum along … ) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223/100 "2014-01-30T22:36:25Z")
Dear Og its a Chtorr! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-made-this-and-why/668223.md?page=6)