Golden Silk Orb-Weaver or Banana Spider

Description:

Large spider with orange-yellow body with white-yellow spots and white head. Long red, yellow and black legs. I always thought their heads looked like little skulls. Webs can be massive. Easily about a meter in diameter. Not very pleasant to accidentally walk into a web. Typically if you see one there is another somewhere close by with its own massive web. So you are likely to walk into more than one if you do. I’ve seen two webs, one above the other, in between two trees that covered a height of 2 meters. The color of the spider and size of their webs really give them a wow factor. Their bite will hurt but they are not as scary as they look.

Habitat:

Wetlands of South Louisiana

Notes:

The Brazilian Wandering Spider is also commonly called Banana Spider.