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In a 2013 video filmed in Santo Antônio da Platina, Brazil, hundreds of spiders appeared to drop from the sky. Arachnologists quoted at the time said the spiders were suspended on a fine, fixed web network above the town—not raining down. The footage’s exact species and what prompted the sighting were not established.
Where and when was the video filmed?
The footage was filmed in Santo Antônio da Platina, in Paraná, southern Brazil. WIRED reported on it on February 11, 2013, after local resident Erick Reis saw spiders hanging from power lines and poles and moving across a large expanse of silk. WIRED’s report on the 2013 footage described the animals as seemingly falling from the sky.
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Were the spiders really raining down?
The apparent fall was a visual impression, according to arachnologists quoted by WIRED. George Uetz of the University of Cincinnati said, “The web is fixed, although it is very fine and mostly invisible.” With the strands difficult to see on video, the spiders could look as though they were descending through open air while actually suspended across the web network.
This explanation describes what experts said about the footage; it does not establish exactly how the web formed or what prompted the spiders’ presence.
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What kind of spiders were in the Brazil video?
The species was not definitively identified in WIRED’s report. An early suggestion was Anelosimus eximius, but entomologist Deborah Smith of the University of Kansas challenged that identification, saying, “The spiders I saw in the video are not Anelosimus eximius.” She and Uetz suggested that Parawixia bistriata, a colonial orb-weaver, might be a better fit. Linda Rayor and Leticia Aviles also considered a large P. bistriata colony likely. These were expert assessments, not a confirmed identification.
Aviles, a social-spider researcher at the University of British Columbia, noted: “Either social or colonial spiders may occur in large aggregations, as the one shown in the video.” That observation helps explain why many spiders might appear together, but it does not settle which species was filmed.
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Is this the same as other Brazilian “spider rain” videos?
No. Videos described with similar “spider rain” language have come from different places and refer to separate occurrences. Storyful lists footage from Espírito Santo do Dourado, while Instituto Vital Brazil discusses a distinct video from São Tomé das Letras. Neither should be treated as additional footage of the 2013 Santo Antônio da Platina event.
In its explainer about São Tomé das Letras, Instituto Vital Brazil describes gregarious spiders forming a collective web, which may be temporary or permanent depending on the species. It says environmental change could be a trigger in that separate case and that the event it describes posed no danger to the public. Those details apply to the institute’s account, not as an established explanation or safety guarantee for the 2013 sighting.
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Could ballooning explain the footage?
Spiders can disperse by ballooning, using silk to become airborne, but the 2013 video does not establish that this was happening. A 2013 preprint explored whether electrostatic forces might contribute to ballooning and said the role of Earth’s electric field remained unknown. That general research is not evidence of a ballooning mechanism in Santo Antônio da Platina.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does spider cooperation tell us—and not tell us?
Anelosimus eximius is a known social spider, and a separate example of its behavior can provide context for how some spiders cooperate. National Geographic reported that a field experiment involving groups averaging 25 spiders, alongside a computer model, found synchronized movement improved prey detection and capture. This does not identify the spiders in the Brazil video; WIRED’s experts disputed that identification.
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The careful conclusion is narrower: the spiders in the 2013 footage appeared suspended across a fine silk network, and experts favored a fixed web rather than spiders literally falling from clouds. The exact species and the trigger for the gathering remain unresolved in the cited reporting.
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