Breathtaking!
Not as dramatic as Charlotte's Web, but still quite magnificent. I'd like to think that they are the reason why we got the 150 days settlement. Hard to believe that it will take another 12- 18 months before these guys lay their eggs.
As you can imagine, the size of the spiderlings are about the size of a pin head (the old pins without plastic)
2 comments:
WOW! How gorgeous and amazing! We have a golden orb appear on our clothes line every summer, to spin an intricate web which is always gone by morning. The only catch is I have to take a torch and keep a close eye out for where the web is every night when I go to shut the chooks in!
Garden orb weavers and golden orb weavers are confusing!
Margaret: your egg sac is golden orb weaver, not garden, Nephila edulis as you said. Mine have just hatched as well. Like an idiot, I moved the egg sac onto the fairly enclosed front porch because the mother had made the egg sac on an archway which had to be moved. Hence, the only way the spiderlings could disperse on a breeze was into the house. I have spent the last few days carefully collecting those who ballooned into the house and putting them out. I managed to get about 1/3 of them before 4 daddy long-legs suddenly congregated in the front room corner to feast. How did they know where to go and that the feast was there?
Dianne: If they take down the web, or disappear during the day, they are garden orb weavers (Melbourne: probably Eriophora biapicata, Castlemaine: probably Eriophora pustulosa - I've just moved here from Melbourne!). Mine have just all disappeared. I can't see any egg sacs and none of them looked gravid. I suspect none made it to maturity. :-(
Incredible creatures!
Lynne
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