The picture I took the other day didn’t do my new friend any justice, so here are some better ones.
Any ideas? The closest thing I found online is that it may be an “argiope,” but I haven’t seen any pictures exactly like it.
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The picture I took the other day didn’t do my new friend any justice, so here are some better ones.
Any ideas? The closest thing I found online is that it may be an “argiope,” but I haven’t seen any pictures exactly like it.
9 replies on “What kind of spider is this?”
I AM THOROUGHLY CREEPED OUT BY THESE PHOTOS. You’re a braver man than I, Paul Blair.
I don’t think I would have been okay cohabiting with this…nor with the contents of whatever is in that egg sac.
What is the scale on this photo? How many inches wide is this spider?
It’s about six inches across. i wanted to hold a coin up next to it for scale but I also didn’t want to die.
I think this is a Golden Orb Weaver, genus Nephila. Not sure which species. Also known as banana spiders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver
Wow, thanks! Wikipedia seems to think they’re a little smaller than mine appears to be. Now that I know I won’t die, I may try to measure it next…
I feel all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it 🙂
Paul,
I found another picture of this beast on Google Images
when searching Kenya spider. One site said that Kenya
has no spiders as poisonous as the Black Widow, which
is nasty at best. I assume that if it looks poisonous it
is poisonous. Check this one out http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://savingparadise.wildlifedirect.org/files/2009/09/spider-hand.jpg&imgrefurl=http://savingparadise.wildlifedirect.org/category/sanctuary-at-roche-caiman/&usg=__hwuwxLA145nqIfkoRU4PizCLvKc=&h=489&w=567&sz=69&hl=en&start=22&itbs=1&tbnid=WiHDw_2VWuc_kM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkenya%2Bspiders%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
What a spider! our computer is giving us problems. We hope you are well and happy. Finally , spring is on it’s way.Grandpa and I think of you often. Love you much.Grandpa and Grandma