Golden Silk Orb-weaver (hatchlings)

Description:

Tiny spider hatchlings decided to colonise my clothes line, and there were hundreds of them. This is a fairly common sight in my yard at present because there are large females everywhere, but something I have never witnessed before are the "hanging" hatching clusters at night (photos 4-5). Safety in numbers? What was even more amazing is that, about an hour after the first nighttime photos were taken, the cluster had disappeared. I searched around with a flashlight but couldn't find them anywhere. Very strange. The last photo shows young hatchlings that have emerged from the golden silk egg-sac, located elsewhere on the property. When the hatchings grow, some will be as large as this beautiful adult female - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/22...

Habitat:

Common in bushland areas and suburban gardens alike. I have dozens of large females in my yard at present.

Notes:

I finally found them, located in a potted hibiscus beneath where they had been hanging. When I spotted them last night, it looks like they were in the process of relocating. It appears that, when the hatchlings cluster, their combined weight pulls the loose threads of the web (photos 1-3) tightly together into a single cable-like rope (photos 4-5), from which they can lower themselves to another location. Amazing! Even the babies are driven by instinct, working together to perform such a feat.