It was during our early morning hike at the trail of Mt. Makiling in Los Banos, Laguna, that my daughter, Odette spotted this awesome giant golden orb weaver. Located just on the side of the hiking path, it has strategically laid out its large silken web across the shrubs and tree branches. The large female spider was in the middle of the web, patiently waiting to snare potential prey. As I was getting closer to the web, the lady spider began to shake her web vigorously, trying to distract me as she moves away. I was not distracted, I was more attracted to observe this lady giant spider!
GIANT GOLDEN ORB WEAVER, Nephila pilipes (ARANEAE: ARANEIDAE)
The giant golden orb weaver, Nephila pilipes is one of the largest orb weaving spiders species in the world. In terms of body size, it it second to the recently discovered N. komaci.
Sexual dimorphism is very evident in spiders, particularly with this species. Female N. pilipes are much larger reaching a body size of 30-50mm (gigantism) while the males are very small with a body length of 5-6mm (dwarfism). Females are mostly black, yellow-brown with golden stripes. The back (tergum) is dark brown covered with dense hairs. Eyes appear in rows which bulge towards its rear. The bottom size of its abdomen (plastron) is mostly black and brown. Legs are very long with, black with yellow. There are no hairs found on the female spiders legs. Male N. pilipes are 4-10 times smaller than the females. These are mainly brown to reddish brown in color. Their front eyes are larger than their rear eyes. The light brown legs possess hairs.
DISTRIBUTION of GIANT GOLDEN ORB WEAVER SPIDER
These giant spiders are found in tropical forest habitats of South Asia (Sri Lanka, Nepal, India), Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines). They are also reported in China, Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
BIODYNAMICS NOTES
They produced large, orb like structures, composed of elastic, golden silk reaching 0.5-1.0 meter in diameter. The spider web strands are reported to be as strong and durable as kevlar!
The hub of the spider is usually on the top of the web while it does most of its capturing of prey on the lower parts. As a predator, it employs an adaptive strategy it capturing its prey. Small captures are caught directly, removed from the web and consumed. For larger prey, venom is injected and the spider awaits for the victim to die (truly ferocious!)
N. pilipes are selective in the type of insects that they consumed. They feed mainly on flies, beetles, locust, moths and cicadas. When other non preferred insects are captured in their web, they remove specific insects that secrete unpalatable compounds like vespid wasps and the alates (reproductives) of ants. Reports have also been made that these giant spiders can feed upon birds and bats captured on their strong web!
These spiders are observed to make food reserve caches during time of plentiful prey to enable them to deal with food shortages. When lots of prey is available, they wrap these surplus food in silk and store these in the hub section of their web. Ready made insect take out food!
For protection against predation from birds, the spiders stays mainly on their web day and night and build a "barrier network of durable threads" on one or both sides of the web. They also vigorously shake their web to distract and also allow them to move away.
It is important to note that these giant golden orb weaver spiders are NON AGGRESSIVE and they will not usually bite humans. In cases that you encounter their bite, this can cause muscle pain and tightness.
A simple request, if you see a spider on its natural habitat, please don't kill it. Let is stay on its golden web. It means you no harm! It is there mainly as GENERALIST insect predator, doing its part in the natural balance of life!
It was truly an awesome encounter with this giant lady spider in the hiking trails of Mt Makiling!
Awesome Creatures! Awesome CREATOR!
