There has been some controversy about whether adult females of social Stegodyphus disperse by ballooning. Here we show that adult Stegodyphus dumicola (Eresidae) Pocock 1898 are able to gain up-lift by releasing a very large number of threads. The threads fan out widely from the spider's body and form a triangular sheet. This previously unknown ballooning mechanism, enables even large spiders to disperse over large distances.
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