Banana Spider. Trichonephila clavipes. Arachnid. Photograph taken and design created by the author. Copyright © 2025 Now I Wonder. All rights reserved.

Wild Facts About The Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider

ByChristine Species Guides

Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider Images

Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders are also called “Banana Spiders”.

How To Identify Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders

  • Like many spiders, Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders are sexually dimorphic.
    • Females are much larger than males and the sexes look different from each other.
  • Females are unmistakable and grow up to 1.3 inches (3.4 cm) in total body length.
    • Their legs span nearly 4 inches (10 cm) (Bradley 2012).
    • Fine silvery-gray hair covers their dark cephalothoraxes and makes them look furry.
    • Their abdomens are elongated, slightly curved, and bright yellow-orange, with paired white spots that run lengthwise.
    • Their long legs are pale orange near their bodies and darken towards the tips.
    • Their first, second, and fourth pair of legs sport large, thick black tufts of stiff hair at ends of their femora and tibiae.
  • Male Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders are harder to identify on their own but are easily identified when positioned next to the females in the webs.
    • Males are darkly colored and much, much smaller than the females.
    • They grow to about 0.3 inches (0.8 cm) in total body length and lack black leg tufts.
  • Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders are easy to observe because they are large, diurnal, and rest out in the open on their huge webs during the day.
Diagram showing the significant size difference between male and female Banana Spiders. Trichonephila clavipes. Arachnid. Photograph taken and design created by the author. Copyright © 2025 Now I Wonder. All rights reserved.
Diagram showing the significant size difference between male and female Banana Spiders Trichonephila clavipes Arachnid Photograph taken and design created by the author Copyright © 2025 Now I Wonder All rights reserved

Huge Spiders In Gigantic Webs

  • Female Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders are famous for their large size, imposing appearance, and huge, sticky webs.
    • Look for these huge orb weaver spiders in shaded woodlands and swamps.
    • Hikers in these areas should be attentive and constantly scan the area ahead and above them for these spiders.
    • While the spiders themselves are purported to have relatively weak venom, running head-first into one of this species’ strong, sticky, and gigantic webs is frankly horrifying.
  • Females construct huge, asymmetrical orb webs that can span many feet, and remain in their webs constantly.
    • The web strands are gold in color, which is why Trichonephila clavipes is called the “Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider.
  • Like many orb weaver spiders, female Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders constantly repair their webs. They eat about half the silk strands every day, recycle the silk proteins in their bodies, then spin fresh strands the next day.
  • Female Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders construct incredibly strong webs, even for spiders in general.

Tiny Spiders In Gigantic Webs

  • Most Trichonephila clavipes webs hold one female orb weaver, many tiny male orb weavers, and one or more individuals of the spider genus Argyrodes.
    • Argyrodes spiders are “web kleptoparasites”; they steal food that the large female Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders find too small to bother eating themselves.

Storing Food For Later

  • Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders accumulate prey in the hubs of their webs.
    • Individual spiders carry prey from the outskirts of their webs to the centers and anchor the prey with single strands of silk, then settle down to feed.
    • If additional prey strike their webs, the spiders abandon their in-progress meal, travel out to the new prey, and repeat the process.

Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider Classification

  • Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders have several other informal, common English names including:
    • Banana Spider
    • Golden Orb Web Weaver Spider
    • Calico Spider
  • As is so often the case, people refer to species other than Trichonephila clavipes as “banana spiders”. When accuracy is important, use the scientific binomial.
  • Formerly known by the scientific binomial “Nephila clavipes“, scientists moved the species into genus Trichonephila. Many older field guides will still list the Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider by its former genus.

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Nephilidae (Nephilid Orbweavers spiders)

Genus

Trichonephila (formerly Nephila)

Species

T. clavipes (formerly N. clavipes)

Binomial Name

Trichonephila clavipes (formerly Nephila clavipes)

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Christine
Christine is the creator and author of NowIWonder.com, a website dedicated to the animals and plants that share our world, and the science that helps us understand them. Inspired by lifelong exploration and learning, Christine loves to share her knowledge with others who want to connect with wild faces and wild spaces.
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