Can anyone identify this Orb Spider?

**theanimaster** · 13th September 2008 12:25

Not sure exactly where to put this thread. I was wondering if anyone can identify EXACTLY what species of orb spider this is:

image found on this website: Digital Apoptosis: Golden Orb Spider (Nephila maculata)

I don't think it's the "Golden Orb" spider as the author puts it. I looked up the Golden Orb and it has a very different-shaped body and markings. I have this spider at my house in the Philippines. Lives in the trees. Nasty mother... here's what I posted on that site:

Originally Posted by theanimaster

I'm not sure about this species, but a similar species found in the Philippines with the same shaped body and markings, but with longer legs is QUITE carnivorous! We've had them in our yard: The web is quite strong, almost silk-strength and turns yellowish with age. It is also quite sticky. Going against certain humane animal practices (we were but young boys then) we tested the strength of this spider's web and along with it -- the spider's appetite. In the first test we flung a regular-sized indoor house lizard into the web. The lizard stuck, and with nimble precision, the spider maneuvered from its position and immediately sunk its 'tusks' (for lack of a proper word) into the lizard. A few hours later the lizard was dehydrated, the following day there were no signs of the lizard under the web or on the web, though it's not clear if the spider actually consumed the lizard's body. The next test subject was a small-sized white mouse. This time however, the spider did not immediately move onto the victim, and it was such a long wait that we decided to observe it the next day. The next day there was no mouse in the web or on the ground under the web. In hindsight it would probably mean that the spider released the mouse from its web, rather than having consumed it as we first thought (again, we were very young kids back then).

However, despite this spider's proven appetite for house lizards, it is a relatively calm species - it hasn't attacked any of us. Also it is VERY fragile. A brother of mine had one on a very thin stick and he panicked when it moved toward his hand. He dropped the stick and the spider from the height of about 2-3 feet, and the spider was mortally wounded. Note the low drop height and the relatively light stick. We've also observed several of these spiders fall out of their webs from high heights (as most of them tend to build their webs high up, although some do build their webs close to the ground) and 'splatter' on the ground. Apparently their bodies hold enough mass to do so.

It is NOT known if they are poisonous, at least not to me. That would be a test better left to biologists to figure out, but if anyone does know the answer, it would be very helpful to know.

I think it's quite interesting to have a spider that no one seems to know its name exactly. Perhaps we should get it named for the books? The one in my home is EXACTLY like this one... shape of the body and the markings, but I remember it to have slightly longer legs. The thing has a leg span larger than my hand.

I also think it's funny, that person who made a remark like "Good work on the macro take". That is NOT a macro lense -- the spider IS HUGE!

**jonny danger** · 13th September 2008 14:05

Leeds would know. He plays with spidies.

**LeedsLeedsLeeds** · 13th September 2008 16:24

This certainly looks like a Nephila clavipes (Golden Silk Orb Weaver) to me as I have seen several of them on one of my plantations. They are poisonous but not dangerous to humans, the venom is a mild neurotoxin which will cause localised pain and discomfort but the effects don't last long.

I've never heard of them eating geckos although full-grown females would certainly be big enough to kill and immobilise them. You have a beautiful spider there Ani, try to take some photos of her next time you see her.

**theanimaster** · 14th September 2008 18:52

Originally Posted by LeedsLeedsLeeds

This certainly looks like a Nephila clavipes (Golden Silk Orb Weaver) to me as I have seen several of them on one of my plantations. They are poisonous but not dangerous to humans, the venom is a mild neurotoxin which will cause localised pain and discomfort but the effects don't last long.

I've never heard of them eating geckos although full-grown females would certainly be big enough to kill and immobilise them. You have a beautiful spider there Ani, try to take some photos of her next time you see her.

Cheers Leeds. Right on the money! I googled that up and sure enough... many more photos of the same spider.

Perhaps I've never seen the male (?) because all the ones I've seen are quite large - I'd say about half a foot in leg span. They move quite quickly, but as I've mentioned, they are clumsy as well and tend to fall out of their webs to their doom :P I think that's how they got to our yard in the first place. We first spotted them in our highschool and then one day they were breeding in our yard -- they must have hitched a ride on our car. This was all in the Philippines. Unfortunately, last time I was there I didn't see as many of them around in the trees. Maybe it wasn't their 'season'? If I go back there for a vacation, I'll try to capture it on film

Thanks for the info!

**Cream** · 14th September 2008 19:57

Originally Posted by theanimaster

the ones I've seen are quite large - I'd say about half a foot in leg span

I would run away screaming like a 5 year old girl if I saw that fucker

**jonny danger** · 14th September 2008 22:33

Even scarier, maybe you can't see it.

**Cream** · 14th September 2008 22:37

If ya mean ants, I don't mind them. Spiders scare the living shit out of me though, I am terrified of the things... had a huge one in my classroom a couple weeks ago n had to get someone to get rid of the thing lol.

**jonny danger** · 14th September 2008 23:29

If you're wearing spiked heels it's a tuff aim to smack um. Easy with trainers tho.

**Lizara** · 14th September 2008 23:46

Originally Posted by Cream

I would run away screaming like a 5 year old girl if I saw that fucker

How about this one, Cream?

Seriously, though, if I ever saw a spider like the one animaster posted, I too would run away screaming like a... well, like a girl. From the sounds of it, I wouldn't last an hour on 3Leeds' plantation.

**Cream** · 14th September 2008 23:48

That thing is pretty similar to what I found in my classroom lol, the thing fell off the roof onto one of the students when he went into the room. I thought it was just a plastic one he had put on the floor to scare me..... shit my pants when it moved

**Lizara** · 14th September 2008 23:55

haha. I'd be running down the hall right alongside my students at that point. Luckily the worst I've ever had to deal with was a spider maybe an inch in diameter in my apartment in Korea. I used about twenty layers of tissue and had two socks over my hand. The worst thing was that it was on the ceiling, so the whole time I was having visions of me missing and knocking it down onto my head.

Most bugs don't bother me too much, but there's just something about spiders.

**jonny danger** · 14th September 2008 23:59

I like spidies cause they are super unique, neither animal nor insect. What I find tasteless and classless about them is they have no esophagus. The have beaks on the exterior of their stomachs and draw the prey right up into it, no taste = no class, mum used to always tell me.

**LeedsLeedsLeeds** · 15th September 2008 08:45

Beautiful spider Liz, never seen a huntsman that size before - it's a monster!

**kenkannif** · 15th September 2008 13:26

^ Had them in Oz.....very common....I too am a spider pussy....scream like a bird!!!

**Lizara** · 15th September 2008 16:01

Originally Posted by LeedsLeedsLeeds

Beautiful spider Liz, never seen a huntsman that size before - it's a monster!

He's known as "clock spider" and is quite famous online. I've seen many reactions to clock spider pictures in my time, but this is the first time anyone has used the word "beautiful".