I found this creature in a huge web 3 feet from our bedroom window. It's called a banana spider, or calico spider, or golden silk spider, or garden spider. It isn't poisonous, and feeds on the bugs that fly into its 3 foot diameter web. It is a common spider all along the Eastern Seaboard, so I shouldn't be surprised to see it here on Wilmington Island, 15 miles East of Savannah, Georgia.
The larger creature is the female, the tiny fellow is the male. The web she weaves is reported to be the strongest silk known. Scientists are trying to find the secret to this silk but have not yet discovered it. The female's body is just over an inch long, the male is really tiny next to her.
I discovered the pair Monday, July 19 and, since it was harmless and an arachnid of such beauty, I decided to leave it where it was.
Six says later I discovered another one just a couple feet away. Since leaving them there would mean I couldn't prune the Azaleas there or work around the window, I decided to relocate them to a more wilderness spot, which I did today. Sadly the male got killed during the capture portion of the event. I feel badly about that! But both females were successfully moved without harm. And I cleaned out the area around the bushes and the house so I think there shouldn't be any reoccurrences of the species, which I kind of regret.
