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Largest, possibly rarest, weaving spider creates meter-long webs and science wants YOU to find more!
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This photo shows a giant golden orb-web exceeding 1 meter in diameter: Nephila inaurata.
Arachnophobes, stay away: Researchers have discovered a new species of golden orb weaver spider, the first in its genus since 1879: it's the largest known web-maker as well as the maker of some of the largest webs, at over a meter long. It's also one of the rarest spiders--the scientists have found just five specimens, and two of those were dead museum specimens.
"We fear the species might be endangered, as its only definite habitat is a sand forest in Tembe Elephant Park in KwaZulu-Natal," said Jonathan Coddington, an entomologist and one of the paper authors. As such, the researchers are encouraging (possibly suicidal) members of the public to find new populations of Nephila komaci to help facilitate more research on the spiders. "If any other viable populations of this distinctive species exist they ought to be easy to locate," the paper authors note.
N. komaci females measure, on average, 1.5 inches long with leg span of 4-5 inches; there are, of course, larger spiders, but these are both large and web-spinning. The males are tiny by comparison, though being slightly bigger is helpful for fighting off females trying to eat their mates.
The study describing N. Komaci appears in the Oct. 21 issue of PLoS One.
