Massive spider web seen in Missouri photo has some asking: Could it ‘catch’ humans?

A spider’s massive web in Missouri has people asking one question: What exactly is it trying to catch?

A Missouri Department of Conservation employee recently snapped a photo of the web along a trail in Springfield. The intricately designed web appears to be several feet wide and span between trees. The spider was quickly lauded for its perfection — and potential to snag much larger creatures.

“Those are the kind that literally ‘catch’ people if they walk through them at night,” a Facebook user commented.

“These are the spider webs that smack you in the face when you’re riding on a four wheeler trail,” another said. “I call them deer spiders; I say their webs are so big they have to be trying to catch a deer.”

Of course, the spider that created this web has much smaller prey in mind.

The web was created by an orbweaver, which is sometimes called a barn spider, and several species can be found in Missouri.

They’re usually about a half inch, not including legs. The species feeds on moths and crane flies, which they eat after biting insects caught in their webs.

“Their webs are most noticeable in late summer (and) in fall, when webs and adults reach their largest size,” officials say.

The spider spins a web at dusk to catch nighttime insects and takes it down every morning, officials say.

One Facebook user said this spider had impeccable timing: “Just in Time for Halloween...”

This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Massive spider web seen in Missouri photo has some asking: Could it ‘catch’ humans?."