The humble metal shed you see before
you may appear forgettable and even
obtrusive, yet its role in the discovery and
classification of an extremely rare life
form cannot be ignored. For fourteen years, it
was the home & laboratory of Dr.
Walton Kincade, an entomologist. In the fall
of 1961, Dr. Kincade, of the University
of California at Berkeley, discovered what may
be the rarest life form in the
terrestrial world, the Escondidio Vitrus Arachnidea
or the Escondido Glass Spider.
Possessing a biologically unique apparatus, this
novelty of nature, has the ability to
synthesize polymers of silicone and weave threads
to produce webs of spun glass.
The uniqueness of this creature is unquestionable
in that it is the only known life
form that can chemically utilize silicone as
a building product. Escondido vitrius
has the remarkable ability to pulverize minute
grains of sand and granite (the
source of the silicone) in its amazingly powerful
mandibles. Studies have shown
the force of the jaws to be just under 2,000
kilograms per square millimeter. In
addition to the beautiful glass webs, the elusive
spider is essentially invisible, a
valuable trait when faced with aggressive predators.
This unique transparency is
in part related to the silicone synthesis performed
by this rare creature and may
explain why it has eluded discovery until the
early sixties. The main predator of this
spider is the Sand Wasp which stings the hapless
spider and then lays it's eggs on
the paralyzed spider's transparent body. After
an incubation period of five to seven
days, the eggs hatch and the larvae feed upon
the helpless host. The mature size
range of the invisible glass spider is from 2
to 2.5 inches when fully grown and it is
only found in the micro-enviroment of Escondido
Canyon. A nocturnal creature, it
feeds primarily upon low flying and crawling
insects trapped in it's funnel shaped
glass web.
*Two dozen small flags marking the spider locations,
were place all over the site.
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