the giant wood spiders
Giant Wood Spider, nephila pilipes [formerly known as nephila maculata]. If you consider the female of this species and the webs they build, yes they are giants but if you look at the males, you will say they are tiny! Anyways, many of you know that female spiders are usually much larger than their male counter parts.
Female in the centre, with yellow coloration, and you can spot the male on the top right fringe of the web, with a red coloration. [Clicking on the image will give a larger picture]. Females are large and grow to a body size of 30-50mm, with males growing to 5–6 mm. Giant Wood Spider females weave the biggest webs in India. The web can be from 1 to 2 meters in diameter. So you can guess how large the the web is!
We spotted this web far high up between the trees. The distance, the light coming in, and foliage behind made it difficult to capture the web along with the spider, but thanks to the DSLR, we were able to capture a descent shot.
Date: 27 Sept 2007
Location: @ Bhoothathankettu, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens
Does this work?
can we post pictures here?
I found one in Thattekkadu recently. Here is the link.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=123240&id=100000493999378#/photo.php?pid=123251&id=100000493999378&fbid=104650822894717
sorry venu, i dont use facebook so i can’t see the pic. may be you can upload to your pbase account and give the link?
hey i too have one similar shot of a spider and web on orkut…
i checked your orkut, but didnt see. may be the spider abandoned it since you were not taking care of it!
ahh…guess Sarlin must have deleted all pics from Orkut as I don’t that account these days.
will mail you..k
*don’t access*
ok marlin 🙂
if u come in Pune Uni u find lots of These GIANT WOOD SPIDERS hanging here & there
That is great to know, Harsh. It seems your campus is large and green to host diverse lifeforms!
nice photo
Hi Rocksea! That web is beautiful! I clicked on the picture to see the details…loved every bit of it. I checked out your other spider pics too. Your photos are gorgeous! I recognized some of them.
I did grow up with a mild bout of arachnophobia:) But ever since I started photographing these beautiful creatures, my feelings towards them have changed.
oh Kanak, I am happy that you liked the spider pics 🙂 Yes, spiders are wonderful to observe, study and photograph! Lot to learn and get amused from nature!
Roxy
Wow what artwork this spider created! Great shot.
thanks mridula, solilo, laura, swaram and joshi for the commets 🙂
beautiful! the bokeh is also amazing!
eeeeeeeeeeeeek! Spiders again… 🙁
there was a report in the newspaper a couple of years back that they found a rare poisonous spider somewhere in Agastyarkoodam. It bit a hapless old coconut climber when he was at work.. jeez, the description of that spider gave me shivers, it still does!
I dont love spiders, no no…
Probably the hapless spider didn’t like the intruding coconut climber putting his hands into its nest 😉 Isn’t Agastyarkoodam protected from encroachment?!!
It is. It acquired some protection something status recently, not sure what it is.
thatz a wonderful news for spiders and the coconut climbers, both will stick to their habitats 🙂
ohh..female power!!! btw, how do u identify the spider species?
i was mad about ‘bird watching'(literally) some time back..i used to identify them from Salim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds
Flyaway, there is a “spiderindia” yahoogroup which shares information on spiders.
For birds, there are a lot of Indian websites and email groups catering to the identification, ethology etc. One of the guidebooks I use is “Birds of the Indian Subcontinent” by Inskipp and Grimmett, which I feel is very useful. The Salim Ali book should be enough for a beginner. Just spend some initial time for identification of the common ones you see around, and then it should be easy 🙂
Gr8 shot! DSLR rocks na!
First I should appreciate for spotting it from your building ! You make me curious to spot creatures in my backyard !
oh this one, just this one, was not from our backyard 😉 but nearby a bird sanctuary in kerala.
beautiful contrasts, great shot!
Yes, they are the great engineers.
good pic.- pls check also: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abeypalamattam/
dear vempally, i had gone through your flickr galleries! just that i dont login to flickr often, to comment. i love the designer wear bug, and other photos you have taken 🙂
NIce photo roxy…
I did not know how to categorize spider genders untill now… This was really informative. I killed 5 spiders yesterday since they built web in my bathroom…
Dont worry I paryed to have their soles rested in peace… 🙂
What a lovely (?!!) reply when i am trying to spread some spider love :-O Yes the bathroom spiders can be scary. Or how else would you peacefully carry out the essentials at the toilet!
Yes Roxy, you said it right.
when a disturbance in the essentials then no way… aaakraman…
Hey! what do you think a bite from which type of spider could lead to become a spiderman… any idea…
Do you know any way to mae that spider bite…?
Oh! that’s a beautiful shot.
It’s a great shot, except for the back light. But the web is in sharp focus, and I love spider webs and photographing them!
it was terribly diificult to focus on the web with my neck bend upwards… but did it! happy about your spider love!! 😀
Beautiful, I can see why you talked about concrete jungles and missing such things!