A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Nephila senegalensis
this colorful spider has a noticeably elongated abdomen in black and yellow and a silvery thorax. The legs are black with bright orange bands. As is typical of golden orb spiders the third pair of legs are the shortest. This particular individual was about 20mm long (body only) which is quite small for a golden orb spider so it is possibly a youngster.
this web was in a bush about 1m off the ground in a dry bushy area on sandy soil.
The vertical line of debris is a particularly fine example of waste management, typical of golden orb spiders and should not to be confused with the more solidly woven-in waste material of a garbage-line spider.
I believe N. clavipes is an american species and this one is native to southern africa, further invstigation makes me think it is a young female N. sengalensis
Spotted on Apr 7, 2012
Submitted on Apr 22, 2012
