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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynes » Nephilidae » Nephila » Golden Silk Orbweaver (Nephila clavipes)
Photo#4748
Golden Silk Spider - Nephila clavipes - female
Copyright © 2004 Hannah Nendick-Mason

Golden Silk Spider - Nephila clavipes - Female
Gainesville, Florida, USA
July 10, 2004
It seems to me this female has just consumed her mate, the empty husk above her. Is this usual?

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Golden Silk Spider - Nephila clavipes - female Golden Silk Spider - Nephila clavipes - female
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Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 11 July, 2004 - 9:30am
Last updated 1 August, 2006 - 9:12pm

Molting?
Or perhaps that's a shed molting of the female? It looks pretty big. If you can still tell the length of the body, it might help to tell. How to Know the Spiders (1) says females are 22mm, males are 5 to 8mm.
… Mike Boone, 11 July, 2004 - 10:42am login or register to post comments

 
Much better hypothesis -
the large one is about 18 mm head to tail and the empty shell roughly 12mm, so I'm sure you're right. I had not thought about molting!
… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 11 July, 2004 - 12:28pm login or register to post comments

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