Golden Silk Spider from Nepal

On December 24, 2012 · Category: Orb Weavers · Add Comment

Subject: Nephila Pilipes
Location: Nepal – Himalaya
December 24, 2012 1:12 pm
These photos were taken in Nepal, October 2012, by a trekking friend. I believe this is Nephila Pilipes – golden orb-web spider. Beautiful! Thought I’d share in case these come in handy for your photo library.
Signature: Tracy

Golden Silk Spider

Hi Tracy,
This is definitely a Golden Silk Spider in the genus Nephila, but there appears to be two possibilities on the species identification. Wikipedia has a very similar image identified as Nephila pilipes, however, FlickR has an image identified as a Giant Wood Spider, Nephila maculata, possibly N. pilipes, and iStock PHoto has an image also identified as Nephila maculata. None of those sources are associated with reputable scientific data, so an actual identity cannot be confirmed by us beyond the genus level. Your photos are quite beautiful and nicely illustrate the golden color of the extremely strong silk spun by members of this genus.