Unknown spiked spider, Black, Yellow and Red, Guyana, South America
September 12, 2009
I found this spider in Guyana, South America. Taken August 21, 2009, during the start of the dry season. It was in Surama Village, located in the North Rupununi Savannah. It’s location is 4 degrees north latitude and 59 degrees west longitude. This village is where the rainforest meets the savannah. The spider was in the rainforest, not savannah. This picture is somewhat overexposed from sunlight, but the spiders back end is bright yellow (looks kind of white in the picture), with a little bit of red and black. The yellow continues to it’s upper body. I estimate that it measures about 1 to 1.5 inches from head to end.
Bryan (Ed. Note:  Surname withheld upon request January 9, 2010)
North Rupununi, Guyana, South America

South American Micrathena

Hi Brian,
Perhaps one of our readers will be able to supply you with an exact species.  We are relatively certain your spider is an Orbweaver in the genus Micrathena.  There is a North American species, Micrathena sagittata, that looks quite similar and is known as the Arrowshaped Micrathena.  That species is represented on BugGuide.  Your individual may be closely related or even be a subspecies.

Update
South American Micrathena: Arrowshaped Orbweaver – Unknown spiked spider, Black, Yellow and Red, Guyana, South America
September 12, 2009
Hi Daniel:
I think it pretty much has to be Micrathena, as you suggest.  It does look very similar to M. sagittata and that species does occur as for south as Guyana, but I don’t think that’s it.  It looks more like another wide ranging species, M. schreibersi.  As is so often the case, this species is variable and the red highlights are not always present, but most of the other prominent features seem to match as well.  If I may hedge a little, however, this is a very abundant genus with over 100 species, almost all of them neotropical, so there may be other candidates as well. Regards.
Karl

A Reader’s Paranoia:  Will writing to WTB? negatively compromise a person’s reputation?
Can you please remove my name from being published?
January 9, 2011 6:19 pm
Hello,
I have a post on here with my full name. I didn’t realize you would disclose this on the website, which comes up on google if my name is searched. Can you please remove my name from the post? Thank you.
Signature: Bryan

Dear Bryan,
We post letters verbatim and that includes the signatures provided by people who write to us.  We do not disclose email addresses or other private information, and we strictly limit the postings to the actual content of the questions and comments we receive.  We cannot imagine the horror you felt when people who read your My Space page and Facebook page discovered that you had an interest in identifying a spider.  We sincerely hope your reputation wasn’t terribly compromised by our posting and we hope that people don’t think less of you for trying to increase your knowledge of the natural world.  We will remove your surname from the posting though we frown upon do-overs when it comes to our postings.  We wish you luck eliminating other paranoia you may have.

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over a foot long with leg lenth, color is mustard and black on legs
September 11, 2009
This spider is huge! Its web is thick as a thin rope. I see them all throughout the woods here in Valdosta Georgia.
from whats that bug
Valdosta, Georgia, United States

Golden Silk Spider: Scale distortion

Dear from whats that bug,
We are highly amused by the gross exaggeration in your letter.  This is a Golden Silk Spider, Nephila clavipes, which is sometimes called  a Banana Spider.  They are native to the Southeast U.S. and range into South America.  They are harmless.  They are big spiders, but nowhere near the size you indicate.  Your photo is a wonderful example of how photography can be used to fool the eye by eliminating depth cues and distorting the actual scale relationship between two objects.  The spider is much closer to the camera and its distance relative to the person is greater than what the photo leads one to believe.  This same scale distortion was used several years ago in a widely distributed image on the internet of a Camel Spider in Iraq.  The quality of that image was much better than the low resolution, blurry image you have submitted, so we don’t expect your photo to go viral, creating mass hysteria among arachnophobes.

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