Nephilia Nigra

[JJJoshua]

This spider creates the largest and strongest web in the world. I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of just HOW large it is... I've heard up to 13 wide and 9 feet tall, but a picture would be really cool. This spider's web is sometimes used as a web for catching fish by the natives.

Nephilia nigra

 

[JJJoshua]

nephilia nigra web, can't tell the size though...

 

[Steven]

the first picture looks Photoshopped,... not sure :?

 

[JJJoshua]

I don't think so, I got it off a pretty credible website. And the info on the size seems right.

 

[Elizabeth]

"The incredibly strong yellow webs of Nephila clavipes in the USA have been recorded spanning gaps as much as 60 feet across."

That's from a book: Identifying Spiders, by Ken Preston-Mafham, 1998, Quintet Publishing Limited.

Knowing that books can be wrong, I did ask on this forum or on ST, can't remember which, if this was credible. The answer from those who would know was yes.

The book also says the females can reach 1 3/8 inches (just the body length, not including the legs.) but the males only get 3/8 inch long (again, just the body).

 

[Elizabeth]

I googled for Nephila nigra and voila! came up with the exact photo from the first post. It's just a picture from someone's vacation. It's in french. (For those of you who can't read french, it makes none of those claims.) Here's that link:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jcfamily-only/CapNoir.html

So, then, what is this credible website you found this info on? I am not finding it. They didn't take this persons vacation photo and build their own story around it, did they? That would be boogery of them if they did!

Anyway, you don't have to exaggerate much with the Nephila sp. I've read in some of my other spider books that the strong Nephila webs are used as fishing nets. They are amazing spiders.

 

[Steven]

i can't find any N.nigra on this list ???,.. are ya sure ?

 

[JJJoshua]

I got the info from a website I found a while ago, I can't remember where it is, it was a web site about amazing animals and they had the T. Blondi as the largest spider and the Nephilia Nigra that makes the largest web, I've been searching for it for a while.

 

[Elizabeth]

What type of search words did you use? Do you remember? I know how frustrating it is when you go looking for a site you found before and sometimes they just seem to disappear!

 

[JJJoshua]

I just found this,

"...The first in the rank of spiders that I
have observed are the orb-weaving spiders in the genus Nephila (Giant Silk
Spiders, now placed in the family Tetragnathidae). The webs of these
spiders can literally be used to catch small fish...."

Reference:

Foelix, R. F. 1996. Biology of Spiders. 2nd ed. Oxford Univ. Press, New
York, 330 pp.

Gertsch, W. J. 1979. American Spiders. 2nd ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.,
New York, 274 p.

I'm still looking though...

 

[Elizabeth]

Steven, from that list, would the bottom entry of this copied piece be it?

mf inaurata (Walckenaer, 1842)....................Mauritius, Rodriguez, Réunion
Epeira i. Walckenaer, 1842: 94 (Df).
Epeira geniculata Walckenaer, 1842: 96 (Df).
Epeira i. Vinson, 1863: 183, 310, pl. 5, f. 1 (f).
Epeira nigra Vinson, 1863: 187, 311, pl. 6, f. 1-2 (Dmf).
N. ardentipes Butler, 1876b: 443 (Df).
N. ardentipes Butler, 1878a: 503, pl. 52, f. 1 (f).
N. nigra Strand, 1906h: 51.

The vacation pictures called it N nigra or, I think, N inaura, which may have been an incorrectly shortened "inaurata"?

Added: And I just went back to the vacation pics, and the person mentions Reunion next to a photo. (The more I look, the more I want to go there myself!)

 

[JJJoshua]

http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/golden_orb_spider.htm

This website states that a nephila plumipes web gets up 40-80cm wide. I can't find anything on Nephila Nigra... the site I found it on before, I found about 6 months ago so I have no clue where to look...

 

[JJJoshua]

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/gerard.joannes/mascareignes_gb.htm

This website has the spider listed as Nephila inaurata nigra.

http://gutt.sg.free.fr/Galerie mygales 4.htm
pics of it here

http://vesmir.msu.cas.cz/Madagaskar/priroda/Aranea.html
has pics and text in a language that I don't know...

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Insects/Japan/Spiders/GiantWood/
info on the nephila species in japan

http://www.backyardnature.net/n/02/020901.htm
This one is about the american species, which states at one part,
"...Its web is even more striking than its body. First, the web part composed of spiraling silk is over a yard wide (1 meter), and its silk is yellow or golden. I found one web strung between branches 15 feet (4.5 meters) apart. Larger webs often have webby constructions on both sides of the main web, creating a real obstacle course for flying creatures. One funny thing about the main web is that instead of its being like a round plate held vertically (an orb web), it's like 2/3 of a plate held vertically, with the upper third broken away. In most orb webs you have to admire how neatly the spirals of sticky silk are laid down upon the radiating threads, but this spider's spirals look sloppy, and you wonder why...."

 

[JJJoshua]

That's all I can find on any kind of nephila, there's not much on Nephila inaurata nigra, but other species with their large webs, means that Nephila inaurata nigra would most likely have a large web as well, I don't know if it's the largest of the Nephila, but the Nephila do make the largest and strongest webs in the world.

Aright, I'm off to feed my babies.

 

[Elizabeth]

Nice. I googled for the strongest spider silk. Some of the other sites mentioned that the Nephila silk is 5x stronger than steel, but I copied this link re: strength of spider silk/webs. It mentions a couple other genera of spiders with remarkably strong silk, (used for telescopic gun sights), plus it tells about which silk in a web will generally be the strongest that the spider lays down (foundation lines).

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov99/943992264.Zo.r.html

Too bad there isn't yet a pic of a great big Nephila web. I would love to see that, too.

 

[JJJoshua]

Yeah, Guess I'll just have to go on a summer trip and find out for myself.