Nephila clavipes

[Vayu Son]

I was going to post this in the identification query below but they were really independent of the subject. Found this female around some tall overgrown pines. Although they are not dangerous to us, they still manage to intimidate me by the starved skull-like markings and fleshy ventral area.

-V

 

[Fabio]

You have real nice pics friend. Are you sure all of then are Nephila clavipes. I wonder if they are other Nephila species?

 

[Vayu Son]

><

Fabio,

I'm fairly certain that at least the female is a clavipes.

-V

 

[spider]

She`s hot!

lol, So did you keep her?

 

[Wade]

I'm fairly certain N. claviapes is the only Nephila known to be in the US, but in Florida, who knows what hitchikers may be lurking about! Looks like N. claviapes to me, though. The hair tufts are a giveaway.

Wade

 

[Lochala]

Man, she is nice looking. :} I wish we had those here.

 

[Fabio]

Hello guys,

Here is a dweller of my porch. I've spotted it doing some web maintenance. I think this is a Nephila clavipes too (the hair tufts are there). Are those color variation diferent sub-species? I've read that we have only N. clavipes here in Brazil too. What do you friends think about it?

 

[Fabio]

Ops..

Here are the pics..

 

[Wade]

I think they're highly variable in terms of color and pattern, which should be expected for such a wide ranging species. I don't know if there's any named subspecie or not, however.

Wade

 

[Alex S.]

Nephila photos

Wow, beautiful pics!

Alex S.

 

[Cooper]

I think these guys are great, my friend used to have 2 actually. I always wondered, why is the second to last pair of legs always substantially smaller than the others?