Weird science

This structure has been built by spiders for reproduction and it's called a Silkhenge.

It typically consists of a central "spire" constructed of spider silk, containing one to two eggs, surrounded by a sort of fence of silk in a circle.

Silkhenges were discovered in 2013 by Georgia Tech student Troy Alexander. He posted a picture on Reddit asking for help identifying it.

No information was forthcoming, as this turned out to be a completely unknown phenomenon. His discovery acquired the name "silkhenge" because of its similarity to Stonehenge.

At the end of that year, an eight-day expedition led by Phil Torres found dozens more examples of this phenomenon, generally on the trunks of bamboo and cecropia trees.

Interestingly, so far, the species of spiders building these structure are still unknown.

[📸 Dante Fenolio]