11 February 2010

Giant Wood Spider


This variety of spiders can be seen in many parts of the world. Usually they are found in warm forest areas closer to the tropics.

This particular one was as big as my palm and usually you can spot even bigger ones. This is a female spider and the male spiders are much smaller.

I captured this picture at Sinharaja Forest.

I'm thrilled to see that above picture is picked by Conservation Carbon Company in their blog.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow...Wow...Wow...

Simply amazing.....It would be interesting to see the meals that it catches. They must be proportionally as large as she is.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Bern,
Yes..they should be catching fairly large critters. the web is quite stiff as well. unfortunately I waited for sometime to but no meal came on its way :)

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh My Goodness.... That picture made me chill ---just seeing the picture. I don't know what I'd do IF I saw one of those things live.... Yipes!!!!
Betsy

බිඟූ said...

අඩෝ මේකා à·€ිà·ƒ නැද්ද?
පට්ට ලොකුනේ....
මම හරිම බයයි මකුà·…ුවන්ට

/බිඟුà·€ා...!

Janith said...

Wow! That's a big one! :D Nice capture K, with the sunlight coming in through the webbing and all! :)

Kirigalpoththa said...

Betsy,
They are deadly dangerous for all flying insects and small creatures..but for us no harm at all :)

බිඟුà·€ා,
පෙනුමෙ à·„ැටියට ටිකක් à·€ිසයි වගේ..
ඒත් මම à·„ිතන්නේ මෙයා අහිංසක සතෙක්.

Chavie,
The picture has come up better than I thought.

Thanks all for your comments!

Offthebeatentrack said...

Nice shot! I'm heading to Sinharaja this weekend...must keep an eye out for this!

Loshini said...

her colours are vibrant.. nice pic.

out of curioisity, is her web supposed to be like that? i always imagined a 'wild' spider's web to be properly aligned, symmetrical? i wudnt know though. i usually keep my distance from all living things wid more than 4 legs :P

BLOGitse said...

wow, great shot! and I'm happy you have the spider(s) over there, thank you! :)

BLOGitse
BLOGitsePHOTOS

George said...

That definitely is a big spider! I would probably have nightmares after seeing it in person. You did get a wonderful picture, however.

rainfield61 said...

Wow!!! You managed to have a big one. I must look around the next tme I go hiking.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Offthebeatentrack,
You'll definitely see one of them there. May have to check a bit further up the track.

Loshini,
There are better webs..but this species does not have a neat web. But it is good enough to catch the prey..:)

BLOGitse,
There are so many types of spiders here. No spiders in Egypt?

George,
Yes this is one of th biggest I have seen but I know they grow larger.

Rainfield,
This particular type is in Malaysia too. I read it somewhere. You will definitely find them in your hikes :)

Amaris in Wonderland said...

Very cool markings. I love the web & the light shining through, as well. Nice shot.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what an amazing creature to see. I am not sure I would want to run into one of these webs, but seeing it from a distance would be quite impresive!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Amaris,
Thanks very much for your comments as always :)

Dowhatyoulove,
Thanks a lot for dropping by and for your comments!!

Emma said...

I have been looking through your blog your photographs are wonderful :) I go hiking a lot myself in the UK well... whenever I get time to :| Great work!

recoleta said...

Wow! How big is this spider?

recoleta said...

How big is this spider?

Kirigalpoththa said...

Emma,
Thanks a lot for dropping by and for your comments! I too have done hiking in Wales and South of England..:)

Recoleta,
Its body is about 3 inches long and limb to limb about 9 inches or more. Thanks a lot for dropping by and for your comments!

Amaris in Wonderland said...

Wow! I just saw how big the spider is. Now i'm speechless. :O

Kirigalpoththa said...

Amaris,
:D

Missy said...

eeek! That is an amazing creature. I've never seen anything like it

Kirigalpoththa said...

Swiss Miss,
Thanks for dropping by and for your comments! You might see them in Cambodia :)

Knatolee said...

What a fantastic photo of a fantastic spider!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Knatolee,
Thanks a lot for dropping by and for your comments!!

Mumbai Paused said...

It's huge! Imagine the web!

Kirigalpoththa said...

SloganMurugan,
Yes the web is huge too :)
Thanks for your comments!

Katie Mauldin said...

I am scared to death of spiders and that one is enormous...or else you have a really awesome camera!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Mauldi,
I used a very ordinary camera. But this one is quite big!
thanks a lot for your comments!

Sean said...

That is one big-ass spider mate!

Are you sure they pose "no harm at all" to humans? Looking at the size of its pincers, a bite is probably going to hurt a fair bit :)

Great shot... hope you used a ultra-zoom camera!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Hi Sean,
Just did a rough google search. I guess they belong to the family Golden Silk Orb-weavers (genus Nephila).
As per Wikepedia the venom of the golden silk orb-weaver is potent but not lethal to humans.
Anyway better not touch'em :)

Thanks for your comments and I used macro feature of an ordinary camera.

Amila Salgado said...

Nicely captured, K.
I have that in my home garden at Bomiriya 90210 as well.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Thanks Amila!
Really? How big are they?
I have seen similar but smaller one in Gampaha area but not this one.
Thought this specie is usually seen in Sinharaja etc.

Sankara Subramanian said...

Brilliant picture. In fact, I took a very similar picture back in 2008 at Mollem National Park, Goa, India.

http://www.beontheroad.com/2009/09/mollem-national-park-goas-wild-side.html

Kirigalpoththa said...

Sankara,
Saw the picture. Lovely! The spider is from the same type and and the photo angle is quite the same as above :D
Thanks a lot for your comments!

Sankara Subramanian said...

That is some coincidence right?

Kirigalpoththa said...

Sankara,
Yep, major coincidence :D