Nephila sumptuosa

Nephila sumptuosa
Nephila sumptuosa. Museum specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Suborder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Nephilidae
Genus:	Nephila
Species:	N. sumptuosa
Binomial name
Nephila sumptuosa Gerstäcker, 1873
Synonyms
Nephila amoenula Gerstäcker, 1873 Nephila bennetti O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1898

Nephila sumptuosa, the red-legged golden orb-web spider, is a species of golden orb-web spider. ^[1][2]

Description

Nephila sumptuosa can reach a length of 4.4 millimetres (0.17 in) in males, of 34.9 millimetres (1.37 in) in females.^[3] These large spiders have long reddish legs with clumps of hair. The abdomen is blackish and shows a series of whitish spots.

As is usual among orb-weavers, there is marked sexual dimorphism in general appearance, but especially in size.

Distribution

This species is present in East Africa and in Socotra. ^[4]

Bibliography

• Gerstäcker, A. (1873) Arachnoidea., In von der Decken, C. (ed.), Reisen in Ostafrica. Leipzig, 3(2): 461-503 (Araneae, pp. 473-503).
• Pickard-Cambridge, O. (1898b). Arachnida. In: Dixey, F., Mal Burr, & O. Pickard-Cambridge (eds.) On a collection of insects and arachnids made by Mr E. N. Bennett in Socotra, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1898, 387-391
• Platnick, Norman I. 2011. The World Spider Catalog, v.11.0. American Museum of Natural History. Database built by Robert J. Raven
• Pocock, R. I. (1903g). Arachnida. In: Forbes, H. O. (ed.) The Natural History of Sokotra and Abd-el-Kuri. Special Bulletin of the Liverpool Museum, pp. 175-208.

References

1. Anumal Diversity Web
2. ITIS
3. Matjaž Kuntner, Jonathan A. Coddington Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila
4. Catalogue of life

External links

• Pbase
• Morten Ross