This web is more than one metre across.
You can see the female clearly and if you look closely there are also two males in the web, hoping for a mating opportunity. The female can be 10 times bigger than the male, and apparently smaller males have a better chance as they are nimble enough to both catch her get away.
The silk is superior to most synthetic high-performance fibres, with high tensile strength and elasticity.
They are quite a stunning sight and their venom is not dangerous to people so you can really enjoy how impressive they are :)
It amazes me how different in size the females and males are. I have had them above my clothes line for years, I see them every time I peg clothes out.
@sugarmuser yes I was reading about them and the scientists can't figure if it is a result of male dwarfism, or female giantism ... the mind boggles ;)
@sugarmuser some interesting things about their breeding biology that is the same as the koala - the male includes a 'glue' after he mates, that seals her shut. So one theory is the larger the female the less chance a small male has enough glue, therefore she can mate with more males, and have less chance of damage to the area. Nature is weird but fascinating!
@fr1da yes, it's amazing isn't it? and another little male over on the far left too, often you will see maybe a dozen males in the web of one female. maybe she needs to be that big to build a big enough web to support all those freeloaders? ;)
Such a lady - she is beauty with her tortoiseshell looking legs ( spiders give me the creeps ) I can not imagine the mating between this huge girl and her small little suitors - but it must work !!
Haha... I didn't know any of that... And I am so glad that you shared this information... 😂 I do love spiders... As long as they are not crawling on me unknowingly...
