[MSN] A fire alarm emptied the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday. About 500 people, many there to see the exhibit of Dead Sea Scrolls, were evacuated from the building for about 30 minutes.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

A fire alarm emptied the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park
shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday. About 500 people, many there to see the
exhibit of Dead Sea Scrolls, were evacuated from the building for about 30
minutes.
By the time firefighters arrived, maintenance workers had discovered the
cause - a tiny spider was weaving its web inside one of the museum's key
smoke detectors on the roof.

Museum officials say, in a way, they are indebted to the spider. The
incident served as a test of its emergency evacuation and re-entry
procedures.

Museum entomologist Michael Wall wants to examine the culprit (which escaped
during the excitement) to identify it.

"I suspect it is Araneus pseudoalarmicus (a false-alarm orb weaver)," he
says.