Nephila edulis
| Nephila edulis | |
|---|---|
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| Female Nephila edulis, Perth, Western Australia. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Genus: | Nephila |
| Species: | N. edulis |
| Binomial name | |
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Nephila edulis (Labillardière, 1799) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Aranea edulis |
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Aranea edulis
Epeira edulis
Nephila imperatrix
Nephila eremiana
Nephila edulis is a species of large spider of the Araneidae family. It is referred to the common name Australian golden orb weaver. It is found in Australia, in both tropical and temperate regions, and in parts of New Guinea and New Caledonia.
It has a large body size variability, females can reach a body length of up to 40 millimetres, males about 7 mm. The cephalothorax is black with a white pattern on the back, and a yellow underside; the abdomen is grey to brown.
The web is about 1 metre in diameter and protected on one or both sides by a strong "barrier" web. N. edulis breeds from February to May, and produces an average of 380 eggs.
The species was first collected and named by Jacques Labillardiere, in Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse (1799), becoming the second Australian spider to be described by a European naturalist. The first was Gasteracantha fornicata.
The species name edulis means "edible" in Latin. Labillardiere wrote: "Les habitans de la Nouvelle-Calédonie appellent nougui cette espèce d'araignée, que je désigne sous le nom d' aranea edulis (araignée que les Calédoniens mangent)." (The inhabitants of New Caledonia call this spider "nougui". I have described it under the name Aranea edulis, meaning spiders that the New Caledonians eat.)
Several Nephila species are considered a delicacy in New Guinea, "plucked by the legs from their webs and lightly roasted over an open fire".
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Wikipedia