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Our garden's spider friends |
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Don't let my dear wife Amy see these pictures - she won't want to get anywhere
near the garden anymore. But spiders are so fascinating!
Orb weavers
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This black-and-yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia), or writing spider, was patiently awaiting
dinner among our tomato plants. Guess who's going to be harvesting the tomatoes
from now on?
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| Brown-hairy with colorful markings, Hentz's orbweaver
(Neoscona cruciferae) is a traditional "scary spider". Very useful
in the garden, though, as it catches all kinds of other insects. The one pictured
at right lived in our driveway border. She had a nice web with traditional
layout, but spent the daylight hours hiding in a leaf on the outskirts
of her home (unlike the argiope above, who sits proudly in the center of
her web at all times). When disturbed, she runs to the center of her web,
and spastically shakes it about once a second, until she calms down.
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This may be the same species as the one above. This lady clambered down my
arm into my seed gathering bucket as I was collecting Thalictrum flavum seed one
day - I must admit I didn't particularly care for the experience. After taking
her picture, I gave her a new home in our garden.
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The Venusta orchard orb weaver (Leucauge venusta) is smaller than the ones above. The bright
coloration, so obvious in the photo, is easy to miss in a real-life encounter.
Fittingly enough, we found ours in the orchard area of our garden.
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This funnel web weaver (Agelenopsis sp.) had made its web in a crevice
of our kids' yard play equipment. We're not sure it makes a good playmate, but
these spiders are mostly harmless to humans. They create a funnel-shaped web
and wait in the center, then pounce when their prey enters.
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The longlegged sac spider (Cheiracanthium mildei) is commonly found in the US.
It is poisonous to humans, which I didn't know until I read up on it
after taking this photo. This particular individual was in an iris flower whose stalk
had fallen to the ground after a thunderstorm. I don't know if it was lying in
waiting for prey.
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Hunters, not spinners
I don't know much about spiders, but one distinction between the various
orders seems to be that some spin webs to catch their prey, while others
lurk in hiding or actively hunt. The ones below are webless types.
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This photo was a nice surprise - when I spotted the spider on a plant, I
knew it was one I hadn't seen before, but I couldn't tell just how
interesting it looked until the photo appeared on my screen. It's a striped
lynx spider (Oxyopes salticus), so named because it pounces
on its prey like a cat.
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This tiny thing is a jumping spider, possibly in the Habronattus genus.
It was resting on a metal plant tag.
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This crab spider was a tiny thing (the seedpod is from a basil stalk, to give
a sense of size).
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Daddy longlegs, or harvestmen, are not true spiders. However, they have eight
legs and strike fear in the hearts of many female humans, so I'll include them
on this page. The one pictured here, most likely a species of Palpatores,
was rather possessive about the gomphrena
flower he had claimed for himself.
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Visitors to this page have left the following comments| LaVora Copley | Jul 26, 2006 | How large is the longlegged sac spider? I have a TINY ghostly spider on a plant whose leaves are being eaten. I have spotted two sizes, both tiny. |
| dustin richcreek | Sep 27, 2006 | I found a golden orb weaver fully grown out side of my school and I dont know if it is dangres. |
| Karen PC | Jul 07, 2007 | I have a picture of a spider that lives in my garden. I would like to send it to you. It may be a Thumb Spinner, but it doesn't have yellow legs. I am very curious to find out what it is. I've tried to click on your "e-mail me" link, but it doesn't work. Can you help? |
| Jill | Jul 17, 2007 | Thank you! Although I truly "HATE" spiders and have terrible nightmares about them, this helped me "i think!!!!" to overcome my fear just a tad!!! I transported my plants in my car and this spider was in my car. Freaked out of course, I had a friend put it in a cup with a lid and I searched the web until I found a picture of it here!!! I will put it in my garden, No maybe not! I'm not quite sure I can do that just yet! I'm not sure what i'll do with it! It is quite large I must say... |
| t dicarlo | Sep 24, 2007 | do spiders damage plants ?
I don't know of any examples. Their close relatives, the mites, sometimes do - but you're unlikely to see them without looking really closely. |
| Kimberly Carlisle | Nov 30, 2007 | I have a black and yellow writing spider, in my front garden next to my pond. She has lived there for almost a year. She stays put and eats lots of bugs and looks very pretty for a spider. I used to be so freaked out by spiders. I have learned the value of having them in my garden. Although the first day I saw this spider, I was weeding a sago palm and she jumped up and down on my arm above my glove, I jumped back and almost fell into the pond screeming and freaking out!!! My husband laughed so hard at me, and I had to laugh at myself. So I moved her to a good spot and enjoy watching her everyday. |
| Georgios | Dec 15, 2007 | how dangerous is that Neoscona cruciferae coz i have 1 as a pet ^_^ |
| MALL MALL | Mar 31, 2008 | WOW THESE SPIDERS OR COOL BUT IF I SAW EM ID PROBS CRY |
| anonyy | Apr 19, 2008 | how dangerous is a brown recluse? |
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Last modified:
January 26, 2008
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