Help with spider ID-can't find it anywhere!

[mom2binsd]

DD and I were out walking tonight and were looking for locusts coming out of their shell....DD loves bugs, we saw this incredible web and this spider. We can't find it anywhere on the internet....it's not on our property but we're very intrigued by it's interesting markings.

It's brown with a black background and two white dots as well as some red and orange, the legs have a black stripe on them as well.

Attached are the best pics I could get.

[StantonHyde]

Did you try your state extension agency website--often posted on the site of your state's ag college(s). They are often under pest control even if they are not really a pest (eg not poisinous).

[Snow mom]

I cheated... I asked DH. Anyway, he said it is "clearly" a orb weaver (family Araneidae) :shrug: With a quick search on bugguide.net we determined it's likely in the genus Araneus. You can look here http://bugguide.net/node/view/1977/bgpage. Bugguide might be a really good resource for you if your DD is into bugs. It seems to be full of information and pictures and the fact that DH likes it says it's probably the best resource on the web.

[mom2binsd]

I cheated... I asked DH. Anyway, he said it is "clearly" a orb weaver (family Araneidae) :shrug: With a quick search on bugguide.net we determined it's likely in the genus Araneus. You can look here http://bugguide.net/node/view/1977/bgpage. Bugguide might be a really good resource for you if your DD is into bugs. It seems to be full of information and pictures and the fact that DH likes it says it's probably the best resource on the web.


So what does your DH do...I looked it up, it's not so clear to me as none of those spiders look like mine, but sort of so I'll take his word for it. Will show DD in the morning and we'll read all about orb spiders...and THANK YOU!

[Snow mom]

DH is a wildlife biologist and all around geek. He told me that it would be useful to have a picture of the spider from the top, that it's difficult to ID from below. I know basically nothing about spider taxonomy but I think only orb weavers make webs? Hmm, maybe I'm just making that up. How big was the spider? I know the we have a very large orb weaver species around here. It's quite impressive (this one, I believe: http://bugguide.net/node/view/2025). Comparing the pictures to the website it seemed that several of the orb weavers have that type of marking on the bottom of their abdomen. If you found the spider close by maybe you could go back and get some more pictures in better light.

[mom2binsd]

We're going to take a walk in the afternoon today, to see is we see it again.

[Toba]

Sorry, don't mean to hijack ....


I know basically nothing about spider taxonomy but I think only orb weavers make webs?

I wonder if this is true, because if so we are INFESTED with orb weavers. We do have a lot of spiders around our house anyway and we usually have to spray because my DH is allergic to spider bites (like run-to-the-ER allergic) and they always seem to find him.

We came home late one night a year or two ago and there was a perfect spiral web hanging from a shepherd's hook like thing that we hang flower baskets from. It wasn't there three hours before. And it was HUGE and had a HUGE bright orange spider hanging from it. We live at the Jersey shore and I have never seen a spider like that before or since. I got about three feet away from it because I was just in awe of it (it was absolutely the most beautiful web I had ever seen in my life and the most brilliant orange color spider), and my husband rushed me inside (he's a little afraid of spiders, I'm sure you can understand LOL). I went out there early the next morning to take a picture and the spider and the web were COMPLETELY gone, not a single trace of either. I'm guessing it thought it made a home in a nice private place and we invaded it so it moved on. I still regret not getting a picture of it because I still wonder what kind of spider it was.

Hope you find out what kind it really is. I love that stuff ... I'm TERRIFIED of insects, but they still fascinate me. I think it's awesome that your daughter likes that stuff too!!

[mom2binsd]

We went back and it was gone, no trace of the web at all...DD was disappointed as she thought it might be neat to see if the spider had spun any words overnight in the web like Charlotte in the book.

[Toba]

Oh, that stinks!! That happened to me too. It's amazing that they can just get rid of that whole web so quickly. Now I'll have to read up on how and why they do that.

[Snow mom]

That's too bad that the spider moved on. I actually thought it might be a barn spider, which bugguide claims is the type of spider in Charlotte's Web. I haven't read that book in so long I have no idea where they got that claim. I know a lot of spiders eat their web and recycle the silk. DH tells me that orb weavers don't tend to do this because their web is such an investment. That's probably what happened though. If the web was in a bad spot it's better to remove it and try elsewhere than lose the web completely.

I asked DH about the web thing. Turns out I was completely wrong that only orb weavers make webs. Orb weavers have a web that is like a sterotypical spider web-- the type kids would draw or you see drawn on Halloween stuff (but not the cobweb type things people hang at Halloween, those are apparently the types of webs black widows make.) He said between that and the body shape it was clearly an orb weaver. Anyway, I didn't want to leave that spider lie that I had created out there.