The Golden Orb Spider
The spider I’m doing my report on is called the Golden Orb spider, better known as the banana spider. 0The golden orb spiders are found in dry open places in forests, woodlands, coastal sand dunes, shrubland, and mangrove habitats. Some of the golden orb spiders live nearby bushes and flowers. All orb weaving spiders make suspended, sticky, wheel-shaped orb webs. The webs are placed in the openings between trees and shrubs where insects mostly fly. There are species of banana spider in Africa (including Madagascar), Asia, Australia and the United States of America. The US banana spider species is called Nephila clavipes and can generally be found in the southeastern states, appearing as far north as North Carolina and as far west as Texas.
The venom is almost as dangerous as a Black Widow’s. If you get bitten by a golden orb spider you the bite can cause local pain, redness blisters that normally disappear in 24 hours. In rare cases it has been known to trigger allergic reactions and result in breathing difficulty, or fast-acting involuntary muscle cramps. As the species possess relatively strong pincerlike parts on their mouth, the bite could leave a scar on hard tissue.
There have been tries to make clothes from the spider silk in the past. At the Paris Exhibition of 1900, there were two bed hangings shown, for example. In 2004 a shawl was produced by a textile designer and entrepreneur, which used the silk from golden silk weavers collected in the wild. It took over three years to finish and the shawl was as exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in 2009. In 2012 the same pair succeeded in making a larger garment, a cape. Both the shawl and the cape were shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.
They can be reddish or greenish yellow in color. They also have patches of white along the abdomen. The legs are striped with white as well. They may be brown and black too and all of these colors allow them to blend into their
The venom is almost as dangerous as a Black Widow’s. If you get bitten by a golden orb spider you the bite can cause local pain, redness blisters that normally disappear in 24 hours. In rare cases it has been known to trigger allergic reactions and result in breathing difficulty, or fast-acting involuntary muscle cramps. As the species possess relatively strong pincerlike parts on their mouth, the bite could leave a scar on hard tissue.
There have been tries to make clothes from the spider silk in the past. At the Paris Exhibition of 1900, there were two bed hangings shown, for example. In 2004 a shawl was produced by a textile designer and entrepreneur, which used the silk from golden silk weavers collected in the wild. It took over three years to finish and the shawl was as exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in 2009. In 2012 the same pair succeeded in making a larger garment, a cape. Both the shawl and the cape were shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.
They can be reddish or greenish yellow in color. They also have patches of white along the abdomen. The legs are striped with white as well. They may be brown and black too and all of these colors allow them to blend into their