A RARE spider which can spin football-net size webs could help warn of global temperature rises.

Manchester University's Dr David Penney is spending a year in the African jungle in a `living laboratory' to find out more about the giant arachnid.

While other spiders can be spotted all year round in the tropics, the orb-weaving spiders are only around at certain times, disappearing in the middle of the dry season.

Dr Penney claims this is because the spiders, which are not poisonous, possess a highly-sensitive early warning system allowing them to respond to changes in temperature and moisture.

Speaking to the M.E.N. from the Gambian jungle, he said: "It's quite amazing. One day you can't go anywhere without seeing one of these huge spiders, then a week later, it is impossible to find one. They are responding to climatic factors in a different way to other spiders. They all seem to appear at the same time and then disappear just as rapidly.

Environment

"It means, they are very finely-tuned to their environment but how this operates we do not know at present."

The spiders, which belong to the nephilidae family of arachnids, can occasionally trap small birds in their web, but normally feed on flies and moths and live for around nine months.

Dr Penney, who was born in Burnage, is a spider expert and several newly-discovered species have been named in his honour.

The university scientist is working in the jungle at the invitation of the Gambian government's department of forestry.

He said: "These days, researchers have too many teaching and administrative duties to be able to conduct long-term ecological field studies. This is a great chance to use the forest as a living laboratory."