Giant Wood Spider Female Moulting

Description:

Nephila pilipes is a species of golden orb-web spider.The Nephila spiders exhibit the most extreme sexual size dimorphism of any terrestrial animal. Although males are not parastically attached to females, they are dependent upon them as kleptoparasites: males loose the ability to spin sticky silk when they mature, and must steal prey from a female. Only males that find a tolerant female will survive.

Notes:

Seen here is a female in the moulting process . Above the Moult ...there was a male Nephila ..whom i couldn't capture i the pic because of the location of the spider. Certain scientific researches on these spiders revealed " Most of the mating events occurred during female moulting but there was typically only one male present on a female's web, indicating a low level of precopulatory male–male physical competition.So males able to find a moulting female earlier than their rivals, to monopolize it to transfer more sperm, are favoured." ref : http://www.citeulike.org/article/1140681...