37 replies to this topic

[Exterminator]

I took photo of a spider and its strange web, I have no idea about the name of this spider and if you know, do tell me if this web is common or rare. It looks like as if a spider which is a big fan of X-men made this web..!

The photo of the web--  100_0745.jpg   169.21K   155 downloads
The photo of the spider--  100_0746.JPG   260.41K   147 downloads

Edited by Exterminator, 29 December 2006 - 05:58 AM.

[glynne64]

Those are cool pics.    

I have always been fascinated with spider webs, but I don't recognize it.  What part of the world are you from?  Cause it doesn't look like anything from around where I live.   That spider looks to be pretty good sized to me, when comparing it to the foliage it's on.  I hope you can find out what type it is...it looks very interesting.  

[explorer]

The Argiope Aemula, found in Asia.

Quote

The brilliantly coloured spider with silvery hair on the carapace sits head down in the centre of the web, and holds its legs in pairs in such a way that they appear to be aligned to the four arms of the letter 'X'.

Link
Images

[Exterminator]

Wow! Thanks for the info Explorer. Well, looking at the images in Google, I think I have a pretty clear and nice picture of this type of web. And Glynne, I'm from India. This spider isn't that big as it looks in the photo, its size was about 1 inch.

[Col. Kurtz]

Spiders creep me out.

[capeo]

Actually its Argiope Keyserlingi or the St. Andrews Cross Spider.  The points on the abdomen and the distinct banding gives it away.

[glynne64]

TOO KEWL!  I'm glad it was identified.  Good job capeo & explorer.

[frogfish]

I've seen those spiders in India before...never paid much attention to them though.

[CaitSith]

Now the important question
can you eat it?

[distortedpandy]

Neat web.

That spider gives me the willies though. ick.

[m. Moe]

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Now the important question
can you eat it?

A better question is would you want to eat it?

[Gatofeo]

As a former survival instructor, I would warn against eating spiders.
While some insects are nutrititional (I know ... I know ... a spider is not an insect but an arachnid, but bear with me) you should not eat spiders.
Why?
Some spiders inject poison into their bug victims. This poison may be hallucinogenic to the point of toxicity. For decades the U.S. Air Force Survival School has taught pilots not to eat spiders as survival food. Period.
The Air Force has one of the finest survival schools in the world and teaches survival to pilots of all branches.
Spiders are fascinating, useful and generally harmless creatures. They are the highest form of life on the planet that does not have a brain. Even ants have brains, but not so spiders.
They're fine to marvel over but don't eat them. I don't know of any study that shows the toxicity level of each species so I'd avoid eating any and all.
Leave the 8-legged marvels alone and allow them to continue putting a dent in the local bug population.

[Leonardo]

Eating spiders. Maybe the toxin is rendered harmless with cooking?

Yuckkk!!!

[Lord Umbarger]

There are a couple of species in south west Georgia, (the one in the U.S.A.), that also make that type of design in their webs. I've seen a number of them in my back yard and in the woods nearby. I don't know it they are native species or an accidental import, though.

For anybody else, if you can give a rough idea of the size of the insect, arachnid, etc, identification might be a little easier for other board members. Don't grab the poor thing and measure it with a yard stick or anything but, just guesstimate. Also, if you can give an idea of the location you found it; the state, the type of enviroment; woods, garden, beach, things like that are very helpful. Not to  mention if it is a dangerous bug from another place, the Department of Agreculture might want to hear about it.

You can also e-mail photos and a breif discription to a local Zoo or wildlife preserve and they will often be able to identify them for you.

Lord Umbarger = Number 1 Team Player!

[Mattshark]

Quote

There are a couple of species in south west Georgia, (the one in the U.S.A.), that also make that type of design in their webs. I've seen a number of them in my back yard and in the woods nearby. I don't know it they are native species or an accidental import, though.

For anybody else, if you can give a rough idea of the size of the insect, arachnid, etc, identification might be a little easier for other board members. Don't grab the poor thing and measure it with a yard stick or anything but, just guesstimate. Also, if you can give an idea of the location you found it; the state, the type of enviroment; woods, garden, beach, things like that are very helpful. Not to  mention if it is a dangerous bug from another place, the Department of Agreculture might want to hear about it.

You can also e-mail photos and a breif discription to a local Zoo or wildlife preserve and they will often be able to identify them for you.

Lord Umbarger = Number 1 Team Player!

This type of design is common amongst orb weaving spiders though there are variatons. We have the garden spider in the UK which is also an orb weaver produces web in reasonable similar style to this. With spiders you can be please to know that despite all of them being venomous, only 4 families are considered to be medically important and only two species have a notable mortality rate and they are the Brazilian wandering spider and I don't think there are to many southern Brazilians on this board and the Sydney funnel web, which I'm sure is well know to the residents of that area.