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Thread: Spider Id.

  1. #11
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    I suspect this is what is known in Afrikaans as the "Wawielspinnekop". That is because their webs are about the size of a wagon wheel. The webs seem to appear across roads and paths at dusk and disappear again at dawn. If you ride on the back of a bakkie at night, holding a spotlight in bushveld conditions, you may have had some intimate experiences with these.

  2. #12
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    There is something very similar on the Cape peninsula, the abdomen is maybe smoother.

    Sometimes there can be as many twenty spiders in a complicated communal web.

  3. #13
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Quote Originally Posted by A-R View Post
    I suspect this is what is known in Afrikaans as the "Wawielspinnekop". That is because their webs are about the size of a wagon wheel. The webs seem to appear across roads and paths at dusk and disappear again at dawn. If you ride on the back of a bakkie at night, holding a spotlight in bushveld conditions, you may have had some intimate experiences with these.
    I believe the Wawiel gets bigger than this one. I've been on a farm with a problem of these, making webs spanning the whole road all over the place. Nobody sat on the back of the bakkie there, for whatever reason, because those bastards drop down on you when you go through the web.

  4. #14
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Nice photo. Made my skin crawl and my stomach drop. But really, a spectacular photo.

  5. #15
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild coast View Post
    There is something very similar on the Cape peninsula, the abdomen is maybe smoother.
    Sometimes there can be as many twenty spiders in a complicated communal web.
    ******************
    Nephila fenestrata - we just called them garden spiders. No common name that I know of.

  6. #16
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild coast View Post
    There is something very similar on the Cape peninsula, the abdomen is maybe smoother.

    Sometimes there can be as many twenty spiders in a complicated communal web.
    I've seen those communal webs and they are just as massive as the orb's but going in more directions. I tried sitting at one with a few insect kamakazes in hand but they were weary responders.

    The Orb's website is also the ideal place to get one of those 'I can't believe that is the male' fotos. You have to look for a while and try both sides of the web but if you're lucky you'll get both in one photo.

  7. #17
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Quote Originally Posted by treeman View Post
    ******************
    Nephila fenestrata - we just called them garden spiders. No common name that I know of.
    Yes that's it, thanx.
    Quote Originally Posted by Meteor View Post
    I've seen those communal webs and they are just as massive as the orb's but going in more directions. I tried sitting at one with a few insect kamakazes in hand but they were weary responders.

    The Orb's website is also the ideal place to get one of those 'I can't believe that is the male' fotos. You have to look for a while and try both sides of the web but if you're lucky you'll get both in one photo.
    The males are tiny right, at least next to the female?

  8. #18
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild coast View Post


    The males are tiny right, at least next to the female?
    I believe soo tiny that she doesn't even see him as food. I do not know whether he has a bachelor pad or makes any kills of his own while on her web. He might even have to scrounge a living off her kills.

  9. #19
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    Default Re: Spider Id.

    Seems like nephila fenestrata is the Golden orb weaver.

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