An enourmous web for an enourmous spider — Written by Te Korowai o Waiheke Team Member
It’s dark out. As it is with the beginning of most of my adventures. I ventured down the trail towards a group of nikau by the edge of the wetland where earlier in the day I had spied the enormous web. Most enormous webs, it seems, are also home to enormous spiders.
Sheetweb spider, cambridgea foliata
During the day I knew she would be hiding, tucked away in her little tunnel while waiting for nightfall. So dusk was the time to pay her a visit. I love all creatures, but spiders have taken a little bit more work than your average creepy-crawly, which I blame largely on their unfortunate representation in the media. Visiting this lovely lady was certainly facing my fears a bit, but still, I wandered until I found her home and waited to see if she would come out for a visit. I wasn’t sitting for long before she tentatively reached out to her web from behind a branch.
The special thing about sheetweb spiders is in their name, while most spider webs are up and down, theirs are built horizontally like a trampoline. Each web has fine lines attached to the tree branches above so as an unsuspecting insect flies along, it gets knocked down into the jaws of the spider, hanging patiently underneath. A very successful system. Sheetweb spiders are endemic to Aotearoa, with around 29 different subspecies. The one most likely to make you jump is Cambridgea foliata, whose webs can be up to a metre wide! Their formidable outer appearance can be fairly off-putting, but learning a bit about their behaviour makes you realise they are no different from a wētā or beetle.
As she crawls out of her daytime tunnel, she positions herself on the underside of the web to await dinner. An unsuspecting moth flutters into her territory, dodging the first filaments without even realising. Only as it is just about out of the red zone does one powdery wing catch, and the moth is catapulted down to be wrangled and wrapped up for dinner. When handling one of these magnificent spiders the next day, I was grateful to know a little bit about their behaviour. Having a very large spider running frantically all over you can be a bit unnerving, but when she settled I found all she wanted to do was sit quietly on the underneath of my arm or finger, as she would at home on her web. I was given a few words of confidence by my dear friend Ruud Kleinpaste, The Bugman and soon I had no worries about letting her crawl where she wanted, even on my face! I will never look at spiders with the same fear, especially when we have so much to learn from them.
- Written by Monitoring Technician Charlie Thomas.