Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007516
• Publication Date: 2009-10-20T20:51:45Z
• Authors: Matjaž Kuntner; Jonathan A. Coddi...
• Keywords: Sexual dimorphism; Wolf spider

More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400-500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, last valid described dates from 19(th) century. Nephila renowned being largest web-spinning spiders, making orb webs, and model organisms study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD) biology. Here, we report on discovery a new, Africa Madagascar, review evolution SSD in Nephilidae.