Spider Couple in the dew
Location: Southernmost Ohio
September 16, 2011 7:52 am
I took a visit to Southern Ohio, and while my goal was to look for snakes that we do not have in Northern Ohio where I hail from, my camping buddy and I ended up getting terribly sick and did not leave the campsite. This did allow me plenty of time to laze around and look for spiders though, and this must have been Orb Weaver city; Found so many! Most of them were easy to identify, but this guy and gal (I suppose I don’t know for sure that they are of the same species…) I am not so sure of. Probably didn’t help that I didn’t think to get a photo from the front! As always, love your website. Not only informational, but highly entertaining 
Signature: Katy
Pair of Orbweavers: But What Species???
Hi Katy,
WE are sorry to hear that your camping trip did not turn out as planned, but we are very happy to post your fascinating photo. We agree that this is most likely a pair of Orbweavers, with the female on the left. She has a very distinctive profile, and we have identified similarly shaped spiders in the past, but we are not having any luck identifying your species on BugGuide. Perhaps our readership will have better luck at an identification than we have had.
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Cool Green Spider
Location: Panhandle of Florida
September 17, 2011 4:20 pm
I noticed our hummingbirds weren’t using this particular feeder and then I saw why. This big yellowjacket killing spider took up residence underneath it. I took this picture and relocated the spider. Do you know what kind of spider it is?
Signature: Jeff Gibbs
Green Lynx eats Yellow Jacket
Hi Jeff,
Your spider is known as a Green Lynx, and it is a hunting spider that does not use a web to snare prey. Green Lynx Spiders are often found on blossoms where they wait for pollinating insects, and we are amused that it had taken up residence on this nectar substitute. We don’t believe the Green Lynx would prevent the hummingbirds from visiting the feeder. Yellow Jackets can be ornery, and it is our theory that if the Yellow Jackets frequent the feeder, they may be keeping the hummingbirds away.
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gorgeous spider
Location: Eastern Kentucky
September 15, 2011 8:55 pm
I found this beautiful spider weaving a very intricate web outside my chicken house. I think it is a golden orb weaver, but would love clarification…
Signature: Amber
Golden Orbweaver
Hi Amber,
Thanks for appreciating the beauty in the female Golden Orbweaver, Argiope aurantia. Your photo is a marvelous addition to our website.
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Looks like a spider, no wait…
Location: 30176
September 12, 2011 6:34 am
It only has six legs.
A friend of mine found this while exploring the woods in Tallapoosa, GA. He swears that it was AT LEAST four inches, if not bigger, that the torso was likely the size of a pecan. He was speaking of it as a spider, but when I looked at the picture, I realized that there aren’t eight legs. He did point out that the abdomen didn’t look like the standard spider variety.
Signature: Lucy King
Fishing Spider with Egg Sac
Hi Lucy,
Since you did not take this photo, we hope your friend has given you permission for us to publish it. This is a female Fishing Spider in the genus Dolomedes, and she is carrying her egg sac which is visible beneath her body. Spiders in the Nursery Web Spider family Pisauridae carry their egg sacs in their chelicerae or fangs until they find a suitable location for spinning a nursery web. They continue to guard the eggs and spiderlings until they die. Nursery Web Spiders, including the Fishing Spiders, are hunting spiders that do not use webs to snare prey. This photo is not critically sharp, so it is difficult to make out certain details. It is entirely possible that this individual is missing two legs, though it appears that the front two pairs of legs are being held together on both sides, creating the illusion that it only has six legs. That is a common pose for Nursery Web Spiders and this posting from our archive shows both the pose and an individual with missing legs. We believe the species is Dolomedes vittatus because of this description on BugGuide: “The two dark-colored spots in the middle of the cephalothorax are almost always more robust in D. vittatus than the more narrow ones found on D. scriptus.” These dark spots behind the head are especially prominent in this individual.
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Creepy crawler in my roses
Location: Central Florida
September 11, 2011 4:14 pm
Dear Bugman,
My husband and boys were outside today trimming back some severely over-grown trees when this brightly colored horned little creature was looking up at them. She is absolutely gorgeous! We searched Google and believe it is a Tiny Orb Weaver?? My son keeps calling it a crab spider.Either way we wanted to send you the photo because it is one of the most amazing spiders we have ever seen. Do not worry, we never kill or move them out of the garden on purpose. She is currently recreating her web we so maliciously destroyed.
Signature: Your friends in Florida
Crablike Spiny Orbweaver
Dear friends in Florida,
You are correct about this Gasteracantha cancriformis being an Orbweaver, and your son has noticed its resemblance to a crab, hence the common name for this spider, the Crablike Spiny Orbweaver.
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Water Spider
Location: Sacramento, CA area
September 10, 2011 1:41 pm
What is this big, bumpy-looking spider I found submerged in our pool filter basket? It’s September and we live in Northern CA.
Signature: HJM
Drowned Wolf Spider with Brood of Spiderlings
Dear HJM,
Many hapless creatures fall into swimming pools and drown. This is a female Wolf Spider, and the bumps are her brood of Spiderlings which she carries about on her back after they hatch. This maternal care affords some protection to the young Spiderlings, but unfortunately, once the mother fell into the pool, there was not much she could do to protect her brood. We have had similar tragedies submitted to our site in the past, and some like this submission from 2009, have happy endings.
Thanks so much! I actually figured it out shortly after emailing you. I don’t know how she and her babies were alive, submerged like that. When I brought up the basket, she seemed ok. I left the basket up and out of the water and came inside to make my inquiries. When I went back outside, the basket had fallen back down, but mom was perched on the top of the stem and all those little bumps came to life. That’s when I saw all the little babies crawling on and around her. How did they live submerged in the water the way they were? I don’t think they all got rescued, but I did my best to drop mom and babies off in one spot. Do you think the ants in there were harassing the babies?
Here are the photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/HollyJAMs/20110910?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIKPq5aR_eDM8gE&feat=directlink
Dear HJM,
Thanks for writing back and clarifying that the mother and brood actually survived the drowning incident. This has happened enough times for us to speculate that Spiders might be able to survive total submergence for a considerable length of time if they have the opportunity to dry out afterwards.
Yep! They can! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090424-spider-resurrection-coma-drowning.html
Thanks so much for providing us with the spider resurrection link.
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Ed. Note: This email arrived at the personal email address our a member of our editorial staff
September 9, 2011 1:03:19 PM PDT
These came to me from the Natural History Museum. (I’m listing their Spider Pavilion on my website). I wanted to know what kind of spiders these are…I’m afraid they won’t know…golden orb weavers in your opinion? That’s the best I could come up with after perusing your site.
I appreciate your eyeballs!
Best,
Brenda Rees
Editor
Southern California Wildlife
Golden Silk Spider
Hi Brenda,
The silk of the Golden Silk Spider, Nephila clavipes, is among the strongest fibers known to man, and a shawl that was woven with the naturally colored silkof a close relative from Madagascar is one of the most gorgeous woven objects imaginable. Nephila clavipes is the only new world species from the genus, and one can’t help but to wonder if it was introduced by man many centuries ago and then mutated through successive generations to produce a unique species.
Marbled Orbweaver
The other spider pictured is the Marbled Orbweaver, Araneus marmoreus. We found a visual match on BugGuide, but it is a highly variable species with many gorgeous color variations, and you may also read about it on Bugguide.
P.S. The piece you wrote on Daniel was quite nice and several of his friends called to say they had seen it.
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Spider ID- possibly a fishing spider
Location: Muskegon County Michigan
September 4, 2011 7:32 pm
Hi Bugman. I adjunct at a community college and frequently get community requests for identification. Someone brought me this beautiful spider last week. She found it near a stream in western Michigan. It has the general body shape of a wolf spider but the body is over an inch long. After some crude internet searching I feel that Dolomedes vittatus looks very similar and should indeed be found near a stream. I took the following photos with the poor dear living in a large jar with vegetation the concerned citizen collected at the site. I have already told her its more than likely some sort of fishing spider , but I’m sure she would surely like to know if I’m mistaken. Thanks!
Signature: Beth Walker
Fishing Spider
Hi Beth,
Your photos do not look as though they were taken in a confined, man-made habitat. We hope this magnificent spider will soon be returned to its natural state. We agree that this is a Fishing Spider, and of all the species in the genus Dolomedes on BugGuide, we agree that Dolomedes vittatus appears to be the closest visual match.
Dolomedes vittatus
Even the eye arrangement on your spider matches the face of a Dolomedes vittatus posted to BugGuide.
Fishing Spider
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