A silver back spider with brown and black stripes on legs, white markings on bottom.
Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 7:49 PM
Found this one on my steps in my backyard. I live in North Park, San Diego, CA. My backyard is a bug haven, it’s a canyon. My housemate wanted to kill it, but I punched him and let it free in the tree.
Toby Gersalia
San Diego, CA

Silver Garden Spider

Hi Toby,
Here at What’s That Bug?, we promote the peaceful cohabitation between insects (and their relatives) and the human species.  One of our methods of education includes the Unnecessary Carnage section of our website where we post the unfortunate victims of a lack of tolerance.  While we are thrilled to hear that this lovely Silver Garden Spider, Argiope argentata, is now safely living in a tree, we are somewhat nonplussed that the intervention led to an incident of domestic violence.  We hope your housemate isn’t too badly bruised and that you two have reconciled.  Perhaps together you can peruse our Unnecessary Carnage section and hopefully your future household will be one where your own appreciation of the “lower beasts” is shared.  The Silver Garden Spider is harmless, though if carelessly handled, it may bite.  The bite, though not dangerous, may produce a slight swelling and irritation in sensitive individuals.

Golden Orb Weaver?
Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 8:19 PM
I found this spider when I went rafting in Rishikesh, India. Have tried looking for it online but could not find anything specific. Came across your site and I think it is a wonderful way to learn and teach! Keep up the good work. Hoping you can help me with my picture.
Gaurav Pathak
Rishikesh, India

Golden Silk Orbweaver

Hi Gaurav,
While we are not certain of the species, we can tell you that your spider is a Golden Silk Orbweaver or Golden Silk Spider in the genus Nephila.  This genus of spiders has very strong golden silk and attempts were made in the past to weave it into fabric.

Unknown large spider
Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 5:41 PM
I have used your site for a few years now and love it. A great resource. I found this spider today (Nov. 2, 2008) near the four corners/Monument Valley, close to Mexican Hat, Utah. It was larger than a Black Widow, about the size of a half dollar. And as you can see in the photo it has a large abdomen, maybe the size of a small grape. Very strong web. The closest I found on your site is a banded orb weaver but this is not quite the same and we saw no zig zag in its web.
Brandt
Mexican Hat, Utah

Banded Orb Weaver

Hi Brandt,
Sorry about the delay, but between our convention trip with students and the elections, we fell behind in responses.  We are finally returning to older letters we never opened.  We agree with your first assumption that this is a Banded Orb Weaver, Argiope trifasciata.  Often the markings of desert creatures are lighter to better reflect light, preventing overheating.  BugGuide indicates that the stabilimentum of the web is less prominent than the Golden Orb Weaver, but some information on BugGuide explaining this is truncated.  This truly is a stunning individual.

Spider Identification
Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 12:14 PM
I found this spider in my yard after running into his/her intricately made web that ran across the entry to my front door. What on earth is it? Thanks! Love the site by the way!
Lauren F.
Cotati, CA

Cross Spider

Hi Lauren,
Your spider is a harmless Cross Spider, Araneus diadematus, a species introduced from Europe and found in both the eastern and western U.S.  You can find many images and more information on BugGuide.  A bit of trivia for you concerns Anita and Arabella, the names of the first two spiders sent into space.  In 1973, Anita and Arabella, female Cross Spiders, were sent into space aboard Skylab 3 as an experiment to observe how gravity affected web spinning.  Both Anita and Arabella died of dehydration during the mission, but their bodies are preserved at the Smithsonian Institution for posterity.  You man visit About.com to read more about Spiders in Space.

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Black spider with Black and white banded legs.
Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 12:29 AM
I found two spiders in my house today.. (so-cal) I’ve found them outside before.. we also have black widows around.. anyways, this spider is black with what looks like black and yellow (or white) bands on it’s legs.. the legs are pretty long.. and it’s not hairy.. it’s not that big.. smaller than the widows.. im not sure what it is or if it’s poisionous.. please let me know.. it’s not that picture, it just resembles it.. maybe a little smaller..
Thanks, Tiffany
Geographic Location of Bug:  Kitchen and Bathroom..

Golden Orb Weaver

Hi Tiffany,
With all due respect, “kitchen and bathroom” was not really what we had in mind on our form that requests a geographic location.  It would be far more helpful to know the name of the city or state or country where you found the spider, but upon rereading your letter, we see that you indicate Southern California.  Your spider is a relatively easy identification for us.  This is Argiope aurantia, a Golden Orb Weaver, but it also has numerous other common names.  All spiders are poisonous, but the Golden Orb Weaver does not pose a threat were it to bite.  Since it is a large spider, a bite might be painful, but it would result in little more that slight swelling and irritation.  Upon inserting your photo into this posting, we realized that the individual spider in the photo was not photographed in your kitchen or bathroom.  That may just nullify our identification.  Sending a photo other than the actual specimen you want identified is a dicey venture.  Also, we only like to post images from the originators of the photos, because that implies permission to post.  We are really hoping the internet police don’t come knocking at our door (or flooding our website with demands to remove the image at once) but we will tempt fate since we invested so much time in creating this posting.  We also were happy as we just posted an image of a Gambian  Golden Silk Spider and spoke about the Golden Orb Weaver in that posting.

Aloe Vera Nesting Spider
Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 5:13 PM
Hi Bugman, I stumbled across a good sized spider in my Aloe Vera plant. It is amber colored with darker ribbing on the legs, and cream and tan spikes on the back. I also have amber colored fangs. It seemed fairly docile, but I didn’t get too close.
Thanks!
To Ben, Ashley, and Elijah
Coastal San Diego

Argiope argentata

Hi Ben, Ashley and Elija,
Your spider is a Silver Garden Spider, Argiope argentata.  This species is found in California, the Gulf states and the Southeast US, and south into Mexico and Central America.  The spiders in the genus Argiope are quite docile in that they spin an orb web and remain in the web.  The web is spun anew daily and the webs often contain a stabilimentum.  The stabilimentum is a zigzag pattern woven into the web, and according to BugGuide:  “The function of the stabilimentum is not fully understood.  Hypotheses are; that it stabilizes the web, or makes it more apparent to birds which will thus not fly into and wreck it, or it reflects light to attract insect prey, or perhaps most likely helps to camouflage the spider in the web. ”