GOLDEN ORB-WEAVERS | A Guide to Australian Spiders

Welcome to another episode of the Guide to Australian Spiders. This one will be all about the enormous Golden Orb-weavers from the genera Nephila and Trichonephila. These include some of the biggest web-spinning spiders in the world, and they are truly a sight to behold!

References:

Music:

Teller of the Tales by Kevin MacLeod

Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod

Suonatore di Liuto by Kevin MacLeod

Village Ambiance by Alexander Nakarada

[TheWildlifeBrothers]

Golden orb weavers are such impressive spiders, and I can confidently say that this video doubled my knowledge about their diversity and taxonomy. As usual your facts and knowledge are absolutely incredible, and the nonchalant way you talk about their ecology is very enjoyable to listen to. They remind me of the Trichonephila clavipes that we get back in the US, large but totally docile and inoffensive. Great work!
- Harrison and Evan

[DT-ovcz]

Now look, I have a huge phobia of spiders but damn! The spider at 6:18 - 6:36 is beautiful I cant even lie. The legs being black in the dark but a nice iridescent purple in the light is very, very nice💯💯💯

[franciscodeasismoraleslagu]

This man is enlightening me, and showing me that Australia has many underrated arachnids due to the pressence of the funnel webs and redbacks. I hope to see this channel thrive in some near future keep up the work

[BreadApologist]

The “Obi wan spider” cause most of the time id see em is suddenly right in front of me all “Hello there.”.

[razzaus]

I just love watching them set up their massive web every evening, but they always have it packed up and stored away by the next morning. Very hard working spiders.

[BlueyChandler]

Good content. I remember growing up in Brisbane, and this spider in particular, although harmless as you say, created a level of fear in me as a young bloke. That fear was usually associated from walking into one of it's webs, the strength of it like wire, and it's colouration was usually enough to keep me away.

[LunarShimmer]

7:06 MAN! check out THOSE boxing gloves! my man is ready

[funeralgothatoo]

Thanks for all the knowledge you are sharing. I can't get enough of it. I also love that you create your own illustrations. You should compile them all into a Spiders of Australia poster one day.

Now I must share a spidery story...

I remember a while back we had a bit of a spider boom here in Melbourne. It was around 2011 I think. SO MANY SPIDERS. Night time walks outside the house and around the garden were a glorious garden orb weaver minefield. A torch was essential to avoid them. They were the largest webs I've ever seen from those little guys. Some spanned 4m between the trees in the lawn Wolf spiders were running everywhere on the paving. Huntsmans chilling on the pine retaining walls. And every single gap in the block retaining walls were occupied by black house spiders. I've never seen such a spider number explosion since. It was fantastic.

Now that summer also was the one time I saw what I now realise must have been a Trichonephila edulis. I saw it high up in a web in a eucalyptus, silhouetted against the sunset sky. It was impressively large, especially since it was a good distance high from ground level.

At the time I had much less knowledge about spiders. But it looked distinctly Golden Orb Weaver from the size and shape. I thought that's impossible, since I was then under the impression they were a northern/tropical spider.

So here I am happy to learn I wasn't crazy and that spider was indeed what I thought it was! Definately not a common suburban sight in Melbourne (and I live near a national park). I've not seen one since, but I plan to do a walk in said park to see if I can spot one as there are reported sightings.

Also during the walk it had in my area when I spotted the Trichonephila edulis, further evidence of said spider boom; many garden orb weavers making a gauntlet of webs across a 20m section of the footpath. Yet another exciting yet out of the ordinary sight to behold for this part of urbanized Australia.

[ShreddedRipcord]

1:16 I honestly want to see something like that outside in real life. I love that I finally got recommended this video! 😁

[DodderingOldMan]

Where I used to live there was a stand of trees that was basically just a huge golden orb weaver city. It was about 5 metres wide by 30 metres long, and every branch was festooned with webs. It was really fascinating to observe. Sadly it was bulldozed to make way for a highway upgrade some years ago.

[hilliard]

What are the chances of spider species cross breeding? I know so little, but im very familiar with the coastal variety, but ive seen them much larger then 35mm and not exaggerating maybe up to 60mm + body length. I could just be wrong but i feel ive seen them even larger then that. Love this channel im bingeing everything

[bigbarraful]

These seem to be in plague proportions on the east coast of Australia atm. Where you find one, you find hundreds.

[dennismenting]

"They are as useless as a shoeshop in the Shire."
Bro that one is really underrated man. 😂

[angemapu]

I have one. Its the 2nd ive had. Very clever web weavers. I can still go in and out my laundry door with out disturbing her. She's beautiful. She's Been here for 3 weeks. ❤❤

[andregonsalvez]

Great 👍 show as usual ! These are beautiful looking spiders and pretty docile.

[andrewsmallacombe]

Loved the content.
I live in Japan, where we have some of the golden orb weaver's relatives.
I once found a female that had survived the winter!

[hilliard]

Morning mate, I'm a gardener and have had experiences where I've had an overwhelming need to touch a golden Ord weaver, I haven't dared yet, but would you think it's a bad idea? I would be gentle not to hurt the little fella ofcourse

[Ghettodachoppa-kfml]

I have weaver pet, found him outside here on the little island of Moose Factory, ON Canada on the Moose River along the James Bay Coast. Very tiny little fella compared to the wolf spiders on the mainland.

[vergadain]

Thanks B&B for the video. What’s the wet patch she appears to be depositing on your hand from what appears to be the underside of her head as she moves, somewhere between 2mins, 55 seconds and 3 minute mark? It looks like water.

[mikeythemutt]

Trichonephila clavipes is pretty common here in Florida. I leave them alone as I'm not a fan of spiders on my person, but they're super cool to look at in nature. There's a park near Cocoa Beach where there seemed to be one in every tree. I've always wanted them in my backyard as a way to kill mosquitos.