posted on July 24, 2000 05:12:47 PM
We've been watching this gal grow (and now have babies) in the space between our camellia and a huge lantana hanging over the duck pond. Pic on my pc is SMALLER than life - she's about 4" from tip to tip. First pic is of her back, second of her underside. Colors are even more spectacular than my lousy pic shows, and she has a delicate fuzz on her legs that looks like a blur in the pic. The babies arrived today. I think Dad was hanging out for a bit (there was a smaller big spider there a week ago) but all I see now is a little bundle of dessicated...something.
Any idea what she is, besides disconcertingly huge? (Maybe she was raised on palmetto bugs.)
This is my best guess:
Golden silk spider, Nephila clavipes. The golden silk spider is found throughout Florida and the southeastern United States. The female is distinctively colored, and is among the largest orb-weaving spiders in the country. The female is 25 mm to 40 mm long and has conspicuous hair tufts on her long legs. Males are about 4 mm to 6 mm long, dark-brown, and are often found in the webs of females. These spiders feed primarily on flying insects, which they catch in webs that may be greater than a meter in diameter. They are most commonly found in forests, along trails and at clearing edges.
(from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_IN017)
Here's a reference picture:
Let me know if that looks like your gal.
Now maybe kiheicat can tell us if she finds this one--the Hawaiian Happy-Faced Spider, found on Maui!
Only thing is, she's hardly 25mm-40mm long, unless you're counting just her BODY, which is 35mm (just short of 1.5" long, not her legs (a whopping 10.5cm - 4.25" - from tip to tip, NOT extended).
We can't wait to see how big she gets. I figure when she finally goes to meet her Maker (if Val and I outlive her) that we'll have her bronzed....if, of course, we can afford it! I expect we'll need the pickup to haul her to and from the bronzer.
You know, I think that "happy face" would make me jump HARDER and yell LOUDER than if it'd had just sat there with no expression on its...um, thorax?
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Jul 25, 2000 05:34 AM ]
posted on July 25, 2000 06:39:31 AM
Creepy, yet beautiful.
Spiders fascinate me, from a distance. I can handle snakes and insects, but I sure don't want a spider on me.
We have very large Garden spiders around here. They are mostly yellow and black and build large orb webs that can be 3 feet across. Also, the dreaded Brown Recluse, aka the Fiddleback. The bites from these little critters can be serious to deadly.
posted on July 25, 2000 09:41:20 AM
Well, boys and girls, I did a bit more reading thanks to pareau's ID of our fuzzy monster.
Apparently the "golden silk" moniker comes from the fact that the mature spiders' webs DO have a golden cast. There's a lot of bioresearch going on with these gals right now (research animal companies actually breed them, so if you want to purchase your own, you can!). Anyhow the golden silk spiders', um, silk is unusually strong even for spiderwebs - said to be even tougher than kevlar, so it has all sorts of interesting applications.
I hope she hangs around for awhile. With the pigger sleeping right under the bush to which our spider is attached, I think she may end up being called "Charlotte" before too long...
posted on July 25, 2000 09:48:46 AM
Here's my one piece of wisdom about spiders.
You never step on a spider in Texas.
They have a type of spider here that when you step on it 100 little spiders come running out from under your feet. Okay maybe I exagerate a little but it seems like 100. It is terrifying.Like sowe sci fi movie special effect.
I have this policy where I leave outdoor bugs alone but if they come in my house and I can't shoo them out they're dead meat.
I have a huge spider in the garge that has set up a web behind the washer and dryer.
It is either a new spider each year or the family home but it is a huge spider.
Does any one know how long spiders live?
I'll have to try and get a picture of it.
It's web is kind of ratty looking but it catches a lot of stuff.
posted on July 25, 2000 01:38:21 PM
We humans owe our existance to spiders, true of other things too, but it is interesting to know that if all the spiders on Earth die tomorrow we would all be gone in about 6 weeks. Spiders kill trillions of insects each day & if they didn't there wouldn't be anything green left on the Earth and we would all starve to death. They are marvelous creatures. I really love this thread & the pictures too. Thanks to HCQ for starting it.
posted on July 25, 2000 02:37:07 PM
Where I live, we have a critter known as the nursery web spider, so-named because the female stays with her young even after they are hatched (as opposed to most other spiders who leave after the baby spiders emerge). She is not much smaller than my hand. The size is a real shocker at first glance.
I watched one over a period of two weeks several years ago, and had the rare (but depressing) privilege of watching her die. It was an autumn afternoon, her babies had hatched and left, and she sat alone in her web. As I watched she climbed onto a stick that supported one end of the web, where gradually she drew in her legs and within an hour or two, died quietly.
Little-known spider fact: their blood has a natural anti-freeze in it, which allows them to survive the winter.
What you're describing sounds like the Wolf spider. She carries her babies on her back and you can't even tell they're there. I once tried to kill one and had 100's of babies scatter around! I was horrified. I was also bitten on the finger by one once and it sent an electrical shock up my arm. They sure are ugly!
posted on October 4, 2000 02:42:23 PM
About a month ago - after entertaining a few young visitors by catching and devouring a couple flies - our dear Charlotte disappeared overnight. She'd become quite the attraction, and we sorely felt her absence.
As I was emptying the kitchen trash I happened to see something up in the live oak. At first I thought it was just the sun shining through the branches. Then I realized that, 15 feet above my head, Charlotte had clearly outdone her last creation. Like a sunburst itself, there with the afternoon light refracting off it was the mother of all spiderwebs. Spanning nearly 10' from 2 limbs of the live oak to the camellia (which I see needs pruning), and going on 4' in diameter for the web itself, her new home is absolutely magnificent, and the color makes obvious the reason for the "golden silk" nomenclature. Charlotte is doing nicely, thank you; no longer her sleek former self, she's now approaching the girth of a Vienna sausage.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Oct 4, 2000 02:43 PM ]
posted on October 4, 2000 03:34:40 PM
Awesome pics! I love anything that has to do with nature, myself. Spiders arent my favorite critter, but they make some gnarly webs. I have a bunch in the back yard that my son once called "fluid masters", because they look full of fluid when peering at them. Hairy legs, huge bulbous bodies. What is neat to watch, though, is when their webs get wet from the sprinkler, they will *flick* off the droplets with their legs. Its so cool to watch
posted on October 4, 2000 03:48:06 PM
Sure reminds me of that great web in the movie Arachniphobia (sp?). Remember that movie? It was filed here, in Cambria.
posted on October 4, 2000 03:59:07 PM
I have to agree with baduizm...they just arent my favorite critter. However, I do love looking at their webs. Hubby even has on on a bush he likes to feed flies he swats. I know, I know...EWWWWWW.
I like to watch ants too. I dab sugar or something in a spot, and watch to see how fast the scout finds it. Yeah, I know. I need to get a life, lol. (keep in mind, this is all while Im laying on my front, tanning my backside. What else is there to do besides read a book, watch ants, or snooze?)
posted on October 4, 2000 05:15:04 PM
My dear hubby grew up in the Florida Keys and calls those spiders Banana Spiders. Every time we go south he warns me to watch out for them since I am TERRIFIED of spiders. I finally saw one up close and personal in Costa Rica last year. Too big for my comfort level, that's for sure. I'll have to agree with the ewwwwwwww comment posted before. My skin is crawling just think about the critters.
posted on October 4, 2000 05:25:56 PMmcjane Good point. I still have to jump when I see one though. HCQ I like the Charlotte idea. She might as well have a name if she's going to keep hanging around.
posted on October 4, 2000 06:08:20 PM
Reminds me of a funny story...
We have insects called mud daubers around here. They look like a wasp and they build their nests out of mud. The nests look like a wasp or hornet nest and they attach them under overhangs or windowsills on your house.
Inside the mud nests are cells, like a honeycomb, and the mud dauber places one egg and one small aenesthesized (sp?) spider to serve as food for the emerging larvae.
I had read about these nests so when I found one under a windowsill, I thought it would be cool to slice it open and study it with the kids, as a sort of science project. Kind of like dissecting owl pellets, you know? So, I laid newspaper out on my kitchen table, gathered the kids around, and told them to watch carefully as I sliced open the mud nest.
Instantly, out spilled what seemed like hundreds of baby spiders, all running wildly on and off my table. The kids started screaming and I froze in panic. The spiders were *SUPPOSED* to be incapacitated and yet here they were all over my kitchen. It looked like a scene out of a horror movie.
I finally pulled myself together and cleaned up the mess of spiders, or at least, what was left of them! I swore then that I would never fool with Mother Nature. I reread the book that had all the info on mud daubers and it DID say that the spiders were injected with a chemical and should not have been so lively. Why these were, I don't know.
Now that it's been awhile, I can laugh about it. HA HA
posted on October 5, 2000 07:02:53 AM
i think the spider webs a wonderful sight while the spiders are working on it and when it's finished.
especially with dew on it with Moonlight shining on it.....
. However, I do love looking at their webs. Hubby even has on on a bush he likes to feed flies he swats. I know, I know...EWWWWWW.