第 0708 號，共 1 402 號

Golden silk orb-weaver

Trichonephila clavipes

名字的由來： The scientific name clavipes is Latin for "club-footed", from the knotted tufts of hair on the female's legs.1

無害對人無害。不用擔心。

蜘蛛

咬吃：昆蟲

對人的危險: 輕微跟蜜蜂螫差不多或更輕微。對人基本上無害。

The golden silk orb-weaver is a large spider with silk that shines golden in sunlight. It lives in forests and wooded areas from the southern United States to Argentina. It is special because its silk is studied by scientists, and because it is one of the largest non-tarantula spiders in North America.1

分布在

Southern USA through Central America and the Antilles to Argentina1

北美洲, 南美洲

首頁

It lives in forests and wooded areas, building its large webs between trees and low shrubs. It can also live in urban areas, and hikers may meet it in woods.1

長度

4 cm (1,6 in)1

最高速度

大約 1,7 km/h（1,1 mph）

在陸地上, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

It catches small and medium-sized flying insects in its large web. It subdues prey by injecting venom, unlike related species that wrap prey in silk first.1

Golden silk orb-weaver 的照片 — Golden silk orb-weaver。照片：Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias。 CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

Females have a silvery white front body (cephalothorax) and a longer orange-brown abdomen with two rows of small white-yellow spots.1
Females have dark yellow and brown banding on their legs, with black brush-like tufts of hair near the joints of the first, second and fourth leg pairs.1
Females are about 24 to 40 mm long when fully grown.1
Males are much smaller, about 6 mm long, with a plain dark brown body and legs.1
The large webs are circular and vertical, and the yellow pigment in the silk gives them a golden glow in good light.1

常被誤認為： Trichonephila plumipes also has stiff hairs on its legs. In that species the hairs are set more closely together than in the golden silk orb-weaver.1

毒液力量

咬

咬的時候，毒液會從毒牙或牙齒出來。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

Its venom has low toxicity. It is relatively harmless and poses little health concern to healthy adult humans.1

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 輕微跟蜜蜂螫差不多或更輕微。對人基本上無害。

It is not known to be aggressive towards humans. It bites only in self-defence if it is touched, and its venom poses little health concern to healthy adults.1

牠害怕時會做什麼？

It bites only in self-defence if it is touched.1

如果牠咬人

清洗咬傷處，用冰敷袋冰敷止痛。如果很痛、疼痛擴散或傷者覺得不舒服，要就醫。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠咬了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

大約跟一根迴紋針一樣長可以在 210 秒內跑完 100 公尺（最快的人類需要 9.6 秒）

Golden silk orb-weaver 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一隻陸龜 大約 0,3 km/h (0,19 mph)

Golden silk orb-weaver 大約 1,7 km/h (1,1 mph)

一個正在走路的人 大約 5 km/h (3,1 mph)

值得知道

小知識

Its silk may help in surgeries involving the nervous system, as shown in past experimental studies.1

It produces seven different types of silk, and its silk is valued in spider silk research.1

Its genome was the first of the orb-weaving spiders to be completely annotated, revealing 28 unique genes for spider silk proteins.1

Some individuals living in developed areas have grown significantly larger than their rural counterparts.1

Males rarely suffer sexual cannibalism or genital mutilation, unlike males of many related species, which makes it a focus of study into spider mating.1

Females are some of the largest non-tarantula spiders in North America, and may be the largest orb-weaver species native to the United States.1