Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: what kind of spider is this ?, 1 by maddy

maddy wrote:
Hi guys,
It HAS to be one of these - Golden Orb-web spiders!
Here is mine - I had dozens of them in the car port, trying to tie my car to the beams and shade cloth! :-) You walk into these webs, you bounce back they are so strong.

Mine is a female red-legged golden orb-web spider, Nephila madagascariensis. Yours might be a different species, I am not sure of this one's distribution or how far north it occurs.

They are called 'golden orb-web spiders' because MOST of them produce golden silk, but not necessarily ALL of them.

Best regards from Sodwana Bay, South Africa
Maddy