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Golden orb-web spider

nephila pilipes

Photo by Wild Things
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

A yellow spider, commonly found in primary and secondary forests and gardens. Females are large and grow to a body size of 30-50 mm (overall size upto 20 cm), with males growing to 5–6 mm. It is one of the biggest spiders in the world. The Nephila pilipes' web is vertical with a fine irregular mesh and not symmetrical, with the hub is usually nearer the top. Rather than egg sacks being hung in the web, a pit is dug which is then covered with plant debris or soil.

Habitat:

Nephila pilipes is a species of golden orb-web spider. It can be found in Japan, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Papua New Guinea, and Northern Australia. Seen at the Kanha National Park.

Reference Links:

Nephila pilipes

Species ID Suggestions

Golden orb-web spider

nephila pilipes

Reference Link
ChunXingWong
1

Comments (9)
Wild Things
Courtney I had read it somewhere that the male is smaller in size, I searched wiki for your reply and here it is: 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). You could also see on the same page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver that there is a picture of a female surrounded by many small males. So the small spider should be the male.
courtneyhitson
Do you know what the small spider on the first picture is?
Wild Things
Thanks a lot ChunXingWong, I appreciate your help.
Wild Things
The last pic is of the same spider, taken a day before.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
International Spider Survey
Mission
Spiders of India
Mission
Nests, hives, bowers, webs & other animal architecture

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Photographed
PublishedOctober 21, 2011

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