Its Banana Spider season
Little baby banana spiders are everywhere.
This one is hanging out over by the trash cans.
They are really scary looking
but I'm told they aren't dangerous
and they eat lots of bugs.
Yay spiders!
My mom told me she thought they were called
banana spiders because they hung out
in the banana trees.
These spiders are also called Golden Silk Spiders or
golden orb-weavers.
Wikipedia says they got their name from the fact that
"the yellow threads of their web shine like gold in sunlight."
I've never noticed their webs to be yellow in any way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver
posted by Amy at 9:26 AM
3 Comments:
Actually, my brother died January 28, 2007 as a result of being bit by a banana spider. There are two types, one lethal and one not. If the spider has red on it, it is the lethal one.
Please be careful and do not use banana boxes for storage or moving.
My brother lived in London, Ontario Canada and it was in the middle of a very cold January in his own home that he was biten.
It was a very painful death that took two weeks.
While weeding my flower beds today I came across a very large Banana Spider. It has red on it too. I've quit wedding the flower beds due to all the different kinds of spiders including this one. I have small kids and have to get rid of this deadly spider. This is the first time in the four yrs that I have lived in Florida to come across one. I don't know why i have it but I wonder if it is because I have thrity or more banana trees around my house.
It is not the yellow spider to fear; it is the use of common names. That is why everything has a species name. The yellow gigantic spiders are harmless. The little spiders with the red dot that lives in and around bananas... not so nice.
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