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Showing posts with label golden orb weaver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label golden orb weaver. Show all posts

October 28, 2009

Female Nephila komaci, the hugest webweaving spider.

The Nephila komaci can be found in Madagascar and South Africa.
They can be up to three feet (one meter) wide and are a member
of
the orbweaving spiders' group.

"In the PLoS ONE paper, Kuntner and Coddington described Nephila komaci
as a new species, now the largest web-spinning species known, and placed
it on the evolutionary tree of
Nephila". (EurekAlert)


(Photos M. Kuntner)
1) a giant golden orb-web exceeding 1 meter in diameter:
Nephila inaurata,
Rodrigues, Indian Ocean.

2) extreme sexual size dimorphism in Nephila spiders: Small male and large
female,
Nephila pilipes, Singapore.
____

Jumping now to another site, EarthTouch, for a beautiful video, taken early
in the morning, when the sun rays make the web's threads shine like gold,
which explains the spider's name.

Golden orb-web spider - Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Delta, Botswana.
____
* Previous post on Golden orb spider.

October 23, 2008

Gosh ! another serial killer spider !

Giant bird-eating spider struck in a backyard in Atherton, west of Cairns,
Australia.

- Spider is a Golden Orb Weaver

- Bird was a Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Joel Shakespeare, head spider keeper at the Australian Reptile Park, said the spider
is a Golden Orb Weaver.
They usually feast on large insects and break down prey with their venom into a liquid
soup. It's unusual to see one eating a bird," he told 9msn.com.

Found on Telegraph, Oct 08/22, by Bonnie Malkin, Sidney... then redirected to 9msn.
_____
Thanks to Bonnie & co. from all PPG's spider admirers ! Yes, those who still come
to PPG to see once more the legendary
camel spider !


Now, if you want to know more about this web weaver specialist...
go ahead >
(Script : Damon Ramsey BSc.(Zool) Biologist Guide)

The 'Golden Orb Web Spiders', Nephila spp. are among the largest of the spiders
to build aerial webs.
They sit in the middle of their large 'orb' or circular shaped web usually with their
legs spread out and head pointing downwards.The abdomen is elongated and often
decorated with blacks, yellows and whites.

These spiders are referred to as a 'golden orb web' not because of the colours
sometime
found on the spider (that can include golden yellows), but because, at the
right angle, the
yellow silk of the web takes on a very delicate golden colour.

Unlike many spiders, they often leave their web up for some time, merely effecting
regular
repairs. They can do this because their web of yellow silk is one of the strongest
amongst
the spiders (Preston-Mafham and Preston-Mafham 1998).This is probably a
reflection of
the large size of much of the prey they capture, for even the remains of
birds have been
recorded in their webs (Raven 2000).

Most specimens of Golden Orb Web spiders observed are the females. This is because
the
Nephila genus has the biggest size difference between females and males of any
spiders,
with the tiny males sometimes being seen in the web.

(Smiling Golden Orb's portrait by Pagebao in Taiwan).

Before I leave you, I think it could be of some interest and pertinence to quote the
following sentence found somewhere in my searching about the Golden Orb
:
"Mostly harmless, but they have inadvertently killed some 20 people over the years.
People died either from fright or tripping over as they tried to avoid or escape from
their rather strong webs."

Pat the spider now !
___
[More posts about spiders...]



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