| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
briochick
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Location: USA
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:03 am Post subject: What kind of spiders are these?! |
 |
|
What are these? They're all along, and over, and beside, and across nearly every woody path. I climbed a nearby mountain a week ago and saw only one. Now I hadn't gone 50 feet up the path and I saw DOZENS. When I had to duck to miss their webs I was too freaked out to keep going. Most of the thick foundation threads are yellow. They look a bit like the banana spiders that I saw in Georgia (in the US) but this is Korea. Trying to look them up has rendered nothing more than my own conclusions. Can anyone give me a verified answer as to whether or not these are dangerously venomous and as to when they will go away? They've all showed up in a week and I'm assuming the smaller spiders (that are alive) in their webs are either parasites or males. Does this mean they'll mate and die pretty quickly? Because, really, I'd like to go back to climbing the mountain for my morning work out.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w136/sheaanna/IMG_1302-1.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w136/sheaanna/IMG_1301-1.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w136/sheaanna/IMG_1300-1.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w136/sheaanna/IMG_1299-1.jpg
p.s. Often these forums reads like a bunch of people sitting around at a frat party so, please, respect me enough to just answer this question without all the inanity.
edited because learning Korean is corrupting my English. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Jellypah
Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Location: ROK
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pidgin
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
Banana Spider? I'm not so sure about that,...
The banana spider is a common name used for two entirely different species of spiders, the nephila clavipes of North America, and the phoneutria of Central and South America, the latter of which can be deadly.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-banana-spider.htm |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
briochick
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
| pidgin, thank you for commenting but I'm well aware that the south American "banana spider" is deadly. Still, this doesn't tell me which of the two species is here in Korea. I suppose my question could then be posted as; "Am I looking at arachnid nephila or one of it's benign cousins or am I looking at arachnid phoneutria or one of it's venomous cousins?" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
briochick
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Jellypah, thanks. Have you lived in Korea long? Have you seen this happen before? Can you give me any kind of time ratio on how long the weather has to be cold before they're gone? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
waywardwanderer
Joined: 04 Dec 2005
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
briochick
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
| You're right, they do, but, looking back at the pictures I took (I have more extensive photos of the webs on my camera) none of them had a zigzag pattern in the web and all of them were several feet off the ground, so that would be an odd wasp spider. Though, pleasantly, if they are wasp spiders and North American banana spiders, or just one with a few subspecies variations, than I'm save, though still freaked out by their sheer number and size. This being much better than freaked out and in danger. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I think in Korean they are called "Mudang" spider. Which translated means shaman spider or sorceress spider. Supposedly, they are very docile. If you find them on your building, you just have to clear the web, and they will either go away or go higher and make a web. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
artyom
Joined: 28 Jul 2007
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yep they are banana spiders or more commonly in laymans terms the yellow banana spider. The deadly version of the banana spider is often called the brown banana spider.
They're not venomous and I often see them in the parks in downtown Daegu. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jellypah
Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Location: ROK
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| briochick wrote: |
| Jellypah, thanks. Have you lived in Korea long? Have you seen this happen before? Can you give me any kind of time ratio on how long the weather has to be cold before they're gone? |
You're welcome! I've been here almost 5 years now and I see the banana spiders every summer. I live out in the countryside. I like how sometimes it looks like there's a "face" on the spider's body. Here's another link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephila_clavata which notes rtheir life cycle ends in late fall or early winter. I think fall might be fairly late coming this year, so the spiders may be around until Novemeber or later? Just a guess.
Oh - a friend of mine once told me these spiders are downright HUGE in Okinawa. I guess the warmer it is, the bigger they (and their webs) get! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| This probably doesn't help much, but I remember a couple of days ago a Korean friend of mine said there are no dangerous spiders in Korea... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mr.Mulder2
Joined: 05 May 2008
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I think they're called Golden Orb Weavers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
semi-fly
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yep. Golden Orb Weavers.
Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephila
| Wikipedia wrote: |
| The venom of the golden silk orb-weaver is potent, but not lethal to humans. Its venom is a neurotoxin similar to that of the black widow; however, its venom is not nearly as powerful. Its bite causes local pain and redness with blisters forming. This bite usually resolves within 24 hours except for the bite mark. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fortysixyou
Joined: 08 Jun 2006
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
They are very docile and you only see them in the summer here. They love chilling in trees, and I've never seen them indoors. I've heard they rarely bite humans and are not poisonous.
One time I was hiking in the mountains and I walked right through one's web. The big yellow and black guy ended up on the front of my shirt. I was freaking out, but the spider was mostly chillin'. My friend used a frisbee to gently scrape him off. After that I bought him a beer. My friend, not the spider. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
