Today is a day of bug poop stories on the Internet, and here is one of mine. I spent well over a hundred hours investigating the giant webs that popped up around Texas in 2007, and while working I listened to a frequent plop-plop-plop on my hat much of the time. You see, under the giant webs, it rains spider poo.

Technically, spider poop is called 'guano'. I'm not sure why, though. Spiders excrete both liquid and solid waste through the same opening, like birds do, and bird poop is also called guano, so maybe that has something to do with it.

The Longjawed Orbweaver Tetragnatha guatemalensis is the spider primarily responsible for the giant webs and most responsible for painting the leafs in the trees brown-speckled white. If you're interested to learn more, you can check out my multi-media journal of the giant webs, including many videos of the spiders in action. You can also peruse the photos I posted on Flickr.

Be sure to click on the above photo thumbnails to zoom in on the photos. You wouldn't want to miss seeing spiders and spider poop up close, would you?