Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Baba Del Diablo: Huge gooey spider webs cover rural Argentina following floods

The gooey sheets are known as 'baba del diablo' or 'slime of the devil'

Siobhan Fenton
Friday 21 August 2015 04:37 EDT
Comments
Large sheets of dense and gooey spider webs have appeared following recent heavy rain
Large sheets of dense and gooey spider webs have appeared following recent heavy rain (UWE ZUCCHI/AFP/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Floods in Argentina have brought an unusual phenomenon to rural areas as blankets of spiders have wrapped themselves around the landscape in sprawling, dense webs.

Although they might look like floating clouds or wisps of smoke from afar, the nets are in fact crawling with millions of spiders.

The unusual sight is known as “baba del diablo”, which translates as “slime of the devil”.

According to local news outlet Día a Día it appeared in a number of rural villages and hamlets which were hit with heavy flooding last week.

Whilst the dense webs might be any arachnophobe’s worst nightmare, others have welcomed the influx of insects.

People have taken to social media to share their shots of the beautiful patterns they have found.

Although the webs are light and thinly spread, they contain millions of insects. The webs are waterlogged (hence the reference to slime in their name) causing the spiders to constantly wriggle in a bid to keep above the water and avoid drowning.

The only way for spiders to escape drowning is for a passing wind to lift them out of the baba del diablo and leave them back on dry land.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in