Giant golden spider (Nephila pilipes)

Kemlanding or giant golden orbweaver (Nephila pilipes) is an animal species in the Araneidae, a web spider with a vertical and asymmetrical mesh, sexually dimorphic with elongated females up to 20 cm in size and has a large investment in egg production and web construction, whereas males only a few millimeters.

N. pilipes displays female gigantism and male dwarfism. Females usually have a body size of 30-50 mm, the cephalothorax is 15 mm long and 10 mm wide. The stomach is 30 mm long, 15 mm wide and is mostly tawny with yellow stripes.

The female has black or brown, covered in thick hairs. The two rows of eyes stick out towards the back. Plastron is mostly black and brown. The legs are very long, stick-shaped with several joints, black and yellow, lacking of hairs.

Males are 5-6.5 mm in size, cephalothorax is 2.5 mm long and 2 mm wide. The stomach is 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. The front eye is bigger than the back eye. The legs are light brown with some hair. Yellow carapace with very few hairs.

Giant golden orbweaver prefers moist habitats without direct sunlight, rainforests with shade vegetation. Nets are built in bushes and trees near the water. Adult females are active for four seasons and continuously lay eggs. Adult males are present in the population longer than females.

Kemlanding prey on insects by injecting venom and waiting for the prey to die. Asymmetric web, 0.5-1 m diameter, elastic, the center is usually at the top to absorb the kinetic energy of the moving insect.

This species also keeps a food cache to cope with periods of food shortages. Food is wrapped in silk and placed in the center of the web. The silk cover significantly prevents evaporation and reduces weight loss.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Infraorder: Entelegynae
Superfamily: Araneoidea
Family: Araneidae
Subfamily: Nephilinae
Genus: Nephila
Species: Nephila pilipes
Subspecies: N. p. annulipes, N. p. flavornata, N. p. hasselti, N. p. jalorensis, N. p. lauterbachi, N. p. malagassa, N. p. novaeguineae, N. p. piscatorum, N. p. walckenaeri

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