Female and male golden silk orb weaver spider, Nephila clavipes

I observed a large female golden silk orb weaver spider (Nephila clavipes) on her orb web in the shade at Emerald Isle, North Carolina (August 7 and 8, 2013). Initially there was one small male several centimeters away from her. Several hours later, I came back to the web and there was a second small male much farther away in the web. A bit later, there was only one male in the web (where the first one was). I had thought the male was there to mate but never saw the mating. I considered that this male might be guarding though I am not aware of such behavior for this spider. The next morning I could not find the female but the male was in the center of the orb about where the female had been.

There were also several funnel web spiders (Agelenidae) with webs touching and near the Nephila clavipes web.

Posted on August 8, 2013 12:29 PM by