NEPHILA KUHLII |
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A Revision of the Selenocosmiine Tarantula
(PDF) CLICK FOR DOWNLOAD (PDF) ---------------------------------
KINGDOM : Animalia
PHYLUM : Arthropoda
CLASS : Arachnida
ORDER : Araneae
INFRAORDER : Araneomorphae
FAMILY : Araneidae
SUBFAMILY : Nephiinae
GENUS : Nephila
SPECIES : N. Kuhlii
Indian spider Handbook
(PDF) CLICK FOR DOWNLOAD (PDF) --------------------------------- |
NEPHILA KUHLII Black Wood Spider
Nephila kuhlii is an orb weaving spider found from tropical India through SE Asia to north Australia.
( India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, China, Japan, Northern Australia. )
Size: Female: 50-60 mm; Male: 5-6 mm.
The cephalothorax is thin and flat with the cephalus raised. At the rear of the cephalus, there are two short horn-like projections.
The abdomen is long, rounded, widest and truncated in the front, narrowing gradually to a rounded posterior.
The abdomen covers pedicel and spinnerets. The legs are very long and red in colour. The front legs are about twice as long as the spider,
thin, brittle and swollen at the joints. There is a longitudinal row of short spines on the femora. Carapace and abdomen is black in colour.
The male is reddish brown in colour and hangs on the edge of the web and is very smaller than the female.
The geographic distribution of Nephila is large,
many habitat similarities are seen between these locations. A warm and reasonably wet climate is generally preferred,
as these are some of the environmental cues that induce spiderling hatching. Locally, spiders look for relatively dense vegetation
where webs can be set up in areas that insects will regularly fly through. Urban environments are also attractive due to the large
prey concentrations and lower levels of predation.
Nephila is a genus of araneomorph spiders noted for the impressive webs they weave. Nephila consists of numerous species found in warmer
regions around the world. They are commonly called golden silk orb-weavers, golden orb-weavers, giant wood spiders, or banana spiders.
Nephila spiders vary from reddish to greenish yellow in color with distinctive whiteness on the cephalothorax and the beginning of the abdomen.
Like many species of the superfamily Araneoidea, most of them have striped legs specialized for weaving. Their contrast of dark brown/black and green/yellow allows warning and repelling
of potential predators to which their venom might be of little danger.
In 2014, a study discovered that golden orb-weavers living in urban areas, particularly areas of a high socioeconomic status,
grew larger and carried more eggs than those in their native habitats. A number of possible explanations were suggested,
such as increased food supplies due to artificial light or lack of predators and parasites.
The golden silk orb-weaver targets many different organisms as prey, ranging from small flies and beetles to larger cicadas and locusts.
As a result of their strong web structure, small birds and bats can also become trapped and fed upon. Whilst most of the captured prey is relatively
small compared to Nephila, the majority of biomass consumed comes from larger, rarer prey. Prey larger than 66% of the captor's size accounts for just
16.5% of prey captured, but 85% of prey consumed, indicating the spider is selective in its feeding habits.
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