Golden silk orb-weaver
| Golden silk orb-weaver | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nephila clavipes | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Subfamily: | Nephilinae |
| Genus: |
Nephila Leach, 1815 |
| Type species | |
|
Aranea pilipes (Fabricius, 1793) |
|
| Species | |
|
See text. |
|
| Diversity | |
| 23 species | |
See text.
The golden silk orb-weavers (Nephila) are a genus of araneomorph spiders noted for the impressive webs they weave. Nephila consists of numerous species found in warmer regions around the world. They are also commonly called golden orb-weavers, giant wood spiders, or banana spiders.
The genus name Nephila is derived from Ancient Greek, meaning "fond of spinning", from the words νεῖν (nein) = to spin (related to nema νήμα "thread") + φίλος (philos) = "love".
Nephila spiders vary from reddish to greenish yellow in color with distinctive whiteness on the cephalothorax and the beginning of the abdomen. Like many species of the superfamily Araneoidea, they have striped legs specialized for weaving (where their tips point inward, rather than outward as is the case with many wandering spiders). Their contrast of dark brown/black and green/yellow allows warning and repelling of potential predators to whom their venom might be of little danger.
Golden orb-weavers reach sizes of 4.8–5.1 cm (1.5–2 in) in females, not including legspan, with males being usually 2/3 smaller (less than 2.5 cm, 1 in). The largest specimen ever recorded was a 6.9 cm (2.7 in) female N. plumipes (which is now debated to have been a new yet undocumented subspecies) from Queensland, Australia, that was able to catch and feed on a small finch. In 2012 a large individual was photographed killing and consuming a half-metre-long brown tree snake in Freshwater, Queensland. Species from Taiwan have been known to reach over 130 mm (5.1 in), legspan included, in mountainous country. In 2014, a study discovered that golden orb-weavers living in urban areas, particularly those of a high socioeconomic status, grew larger and carried more eggs than those in their native habitats. A number of possible explanations were suggested, such as increased food supplies due to artificial light or lack of predators and parasites.
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Wikipedia