A Banana Spider or a Golden Orb.....

This spier is for Namaikisaru, who published a rather unpleasant looking spider, a Jumping Spider found in Japan.   I have located what we call a Banana Spider in Florida, or, also a Golden Orb.
     This spider is quite large, about 2 or 2 1/2" long.  It lives in trees and hunts insects.  They have a beautiful and distinct color and patterning with a very large webbing.  Often, the web can be identified without a spider, because it has a golden color.
   When I rode horses in the woods here in Florida, we would often come up close and personal with the webs, getting wrapped up in them from head to saddle.  Many times they would fall on us and crawl all around our shoulders, arms, backs, horses necks, helmets.  I could hold them, let them crawl on my skin, place them back into the trees, and never worry....  these spiders don't bite.  They do eat bugs as you can see from the beetle caught in the webbing.  
   These spiders have a predictable life cycle.  They eat and grow through the summer,  lay new eggs in the early fall, waiting to hatch in the spring.  When the temps are warm enough, the eggs hatch and the new spiders look for bugs.....
    Please enjoy......     The Golden Orb!