These spiders are a common site in Okinawa, and all across East Asia and Oceania. This one (below) made its web, or ‘golden orb’, in our garden. The spider constantly occupies the golden web, which is large (up to 1.5 m across) so it’s tricky to avoid. It kept building its web in places we had to walk, or work, namely, the washing lines. We tore them down (or accidentally walked into them), and she rebuilt (definitely a female as the male is smaller than my fingernail – poor fella).
The orb weaver is big, up to 20 cm with those spindly legs, and poisonous but not deadly to humans, apparently. It’s not so kind to bees and other critters small enough to provide dinner, though. A particularly successful orb weaver in our neighbourhood made regular, and somewhat gruesome, feasts of the seasonal cicada that could not help but fly straight into her web. After eating the best parts of the cicada, the orb weaver would discard the insect carcass onto the street below.
