Have you seen this giant spider around your Texas home lately? Here’s what kind it is
The hot summer in Texas has attracted a special kind of arachnid to soak up the sun, which has piqued the interest of local homeowners.
“Anyone know what this spider is?” asked a Nextdoor user in a post on the website accompanied by a photo of a black and yellow spider resting on a web.
The responses ranged from a garden spider to a carpenter spider.
The spiders, which come in various sizes, are known as the golden silk spider or “banana spider” because the creature has often been spotted in shipping containers filled with yellow fruit. Here is what you need to know about the Golden Silk Spider
Is the Golden Silk Spider venomous?
Luckily, the banana spider is completely harmless to humans living in Texas and elsewhere.
“Because of its size, people sometimes assume that the banana spider is dangerous to people. In reality, it is a shy spider (as nearly all spiders are). Just know this species is considered medically harmless to humans,” according to the website Texas Master Gardener. “There is little danger to a healthy adult from an encounter with the banana spider. It will only bite if held or pinched and the bite itself will produce a localized pain with a slight redness, which quickly goes away.”
It is the only banana spider species found in Texas, so a bite from this species of arachnid isn’t fatal.
Along with mosquitoes and chiggers, banana spiders come out mostly during the warmer summer months. They will wait till the weather is exceptionally hot to make their seasonal entrance — sometime mid-summer and hanging around until the fall.
The male spiders, which are smaller than the female spiders, come out first. They also vary in color, the males being brown, slender and only about an inch long.
Females are about two to three inches long, brown or orange with yellow spots, and have long, skinny bodies. The Golden Silk Spider is found only in the Western Hemisphere.
Where to find Golden Silk Spiders in Texas?
In the western hemisphere, the spiders live throughout the Gulf states, including Texas. Those who live in rural areas are more likely to see them, though they can venture into urban locations as well.
“Typically, the webs are made in open woods or edges of dense forest, usually attached to trees and low shrubs, although they may be in tree tops or between the wires of utility lines. In relation to the ground, webs are woven anywhere from eye-level upwards into a tree canopy,” according to Galveston County Master Gardeners.
Their nickname, the Golden Silk spider, comes from the color of their web. Their web thread is golden, resembling silk, and they build three—to five-foot large webs, the strongest of any arachnid nest.
This story was originally published August 6, 2024 at 1:12 PM.