Golden Silk Spider
July 26, 2009
I took this picture today and I was excited that it turned out so nicely. I wanted to share it with other bug enthusiasts.
He (or she) is hanging around in my back yard and is welcome to stay as long as he/she likes.
Sharon Pleasants
Monroe LA
- Golden Silk Spider
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for sending us your photo of a female Golden Silk Spider, Nephila clavipes. The female is about 100 times the size of the male who would probably go unnoticed except that a male or males are often found sharing the web of a female. We also just posted a photo of a relative in the same genus from Indonesia.
Identify this Indonesian Spider!
July 25, 2009
This spider was hanging on a web between a tree and a powerline. It was pretty far away, so I couldn’t tell how large it was. It seemed to be much larger than my palm though.
Steph K.
Suryabaya, Indonesia
Golden Silk Spider
Dear Steph,
This is a Golden Silk Spider in the genus Nephila. We believe, based on an Indonesian Website we located, that this is Nephila pilipes. The website indicates: “Nephila pilipes is a species of golden orb-web spider. It can be found in Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Papua New Guinea, and Northern Australia. It is commonly found in primary and secondary forests and gardens. Females are large and grow to a body size of 30-50mm, with males growing to 5–6 mm.” Your specimen is a female.
Orb Weaver with Skink Pt2
July 24, 2009
I sent two images earlier today and got one more of the same unknown orb weaver with her skink. By now he’s collapsing on himself from her nonstop feast. As my son said, “Cool. Spiders are like vampires!”
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Common House Spider eats Skink
Uknown Spider Feasting on Lizard
July 24, 2009
Saw this unknown spider had caught a baby skink it its web last night. I tried to get a decent night shot as the spider was biting the skink’s tail. The poor little lizard was twisitng fruitlessly. This morning the spider had turned the now dead skink and was working on it’s face. My kids enjoyed seeing the circle of life in action. I hope you enjoy the shots as well.
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Common House Spider eats Skink
Hi Resa,
We are thrilled to be able to post your awesome documentation, though we have a certain fondness for lizards. We do really hate those television commercials with the animated gecko though. Your spider is not an Orbweaver, but rather a Cobweb Spider. We believe it is the highly variable Common House Spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, based on images posted to BugGuide. Spiders are able to incapacitate much larger prey when the prey becomes entangled in the web. We have photos in our archive of a Golden Orb Weaver feeding on a Hummingbird and we have linked to an image of a Golden Silk Spider eating a Finch.
Common House Spider eats Skink
6 yr old “bug scientist” needs your help!
July 21, 2009
Hi,
Am writing this on behalf of my 6 year old son. He’s fascinated with bugs and has already declared his intention of becoming a “bug scientist” when he grows up.
He’s been on the lookout for a long time to find a critter worthy of posting here and was so excited when he found this spider. He had me out taking numerous pictures of it over the course of several days in hopes that we could get some good ones to submit to you.
We are in Aliso Viejo – just a few miles directly inland from Laguna Beach, CA and found this gorgeous, and very large, spider in the bushes outside my son’s YMCA center.Can you tell us what it is?
Mom of future “bug guy.”
Southern California
Silver Argiope
Dear Mom,
Your spider is a Silver Argiope, Argiope argentata, one of the Orb Weaver Spiders. The species is found in the Southern states, Gulf states and California. According to BugGuide: “Orbweavers place a conspicuous zigzagging white silk banner in their webs called the ’stabilimentum’ which can be used to identify the species. In this species four stabilimenta form a cross in the web of mature spiders. Juveniles of many species, including this one, spin a spiralling stabilimentum from the center of the web. 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.“
Spider web full of color
July 18, 2009
Hi I live in Oregon, and by Crater Lake I saw this beautiful spider web. have you ever seen one like this?. I wonder what kind of spider made this? If you have time please let me know. thanks so much
Laurie Hayden-quinn
Azalea Oregon
Orbweaver Web catches the light
Hi Laurie,
Your Spider Web photo is quite beautiful. We cannot tell you the species, but this is the web of one of the Orbweavers in the family Araneidae. The color is probably the illusion created by the silk and moisture acting like a prism when struck by light from the perfect direction.
Spiders on Drugs
November 14, 2009
In doing research for our book that must be completed in sixteen days, we stumbled upon this wonderful website that contains images of spider webs spun while under the influence of various drugs.
Fishing spider
July 15, 2009
Hi,
Just wanted to share this picture of a fishing spider… he was in our neglected pool. I love how his legs dent the water!
Emmy
Tampa, Florida
Six Spotted Fishing Spider
Hi Emmy,
Of all the species of Fishing Spider, the Six Spotted Fishing Spider, Dolomedes triton, is probably the one most associated with water and fishing. Your photo is truly wonderful and a study in symmetry.
Update from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
I agree that image of the fishing spider is just gorgeous! Deserves to hang in a gallery.
Eric
Monstrous brown spotted spider
June 13, 2009
We were shocked to discover this spider in a forest preserve outside Chicago. The picture actually underestimates its size because the hand shown is in front of the spider. Spider leg span was 3-3.5 inches, total body size was about two inches. Spider had some fur but wasn’t as hairy as say a tarantula. Hand is small-average male hand.
Lou and Bethany
Just outside of Chicago
Fishing Spider
Dear Lou and Bethany,
What a wonderful image of a Fishing Spider, probably Dolomedes tenebrosus. Fishing Spiders generally live near water and they have been known to dive beneath the surface and remain there to escape enemies and to fish for prey. They can actually catch fish underwater.
Spider Identification request.
July 12, 2009
I came across this spider, it probably is a common spider in England however I’ve never come across this kind before. The legs and main body part were transparent while the sack was white with the bright red.
it’s size was the same of that of a finger nail.
Season : Summer
Possibly nothing special but would be nice to know. pictures aren’t great so apologies there.
M.D
England
Candystripe Spider
Dear M.D.,
Just yesterday we posted a photo from Ireland of a Candystripe Spider, Enoplognatha ovata. It is also represented on BugGuide, and we are uncertain if it has a global distribution naturally, or if it has been introduced accidentally.
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Posted 14 July 2009
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Spiny Spider
July 13, 2009
Found this guy in my hair yesterday (July 12) during a hike. I’ve never seen a spider like this. My husband didn’t believe it was a spider until it spun its silk to drop off a branch. Still not sure what type of spider it is. Sorry for the quality. We didn’t have our good camera on the hike. 
Resa
Atlanta, GA
Spined Micrathena
Hi Resa,
This is a Spined Micrathena, Micrathena gracilis, one of the orb weaving spiders. It ranges over much of eastern North America. We are amused with your comment about the picture quality, and we can only imagine the resolution of your good camera seeing as so much that we receive are either low resolution images taken with cell phones, or blurry large files taken by people who have no idea how to properly focus their cameras.
Green spider captured
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 2:16 PM
I captured this spider at my wife’s request, it was sitting inside the carport.
Haven’t seen a green one before but have seen brown ones.
Steve
Kearns, utah
probably Running Crab Spider
Hi Steve,
We believe this is a Nursery Web Spider in the family Pisauridae, which includes the Fishing Spiders. These are large spiders and your photo does not indicate scale, nor does your letter provide any indication of the size. We are uncertain of the exact identification, but we do believe the family is correct. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide more specific information.
Update from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
Hard to tell, especially without a size being given, but I would suspect this is actually a running crab spider in the genus Tibellus, family Philodromidae. A close-up of the eye arrangement would also be telling…..
Eric
Great Site for Science Students
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Hi Bugman,
I’m a sixth grade science teacher and I wanted to say how helpful your site is when teaching my students about helpful and harmful insects, arachnids, and other creatures. Students love the pictures and they often have good discussions about the bugs I show them. Your site is useful in helping students to identify before they kill bugs. Thanks for providing a great site. It’s great to show my students great pictures. You are appreciated!
C.G
Science Teacher
Florida
P.S.
I have enclosed a photo of a brown widow that I necessarily had to carnage on my front porch. It had nested under a chair on my front porch.
Brown Widow
Dear C.G,
Thank you so much for your kind letter. It is with trepidation that we are NOT tagging your letter as Unnecessary Carnage, and we feel many of our readership will disagree. Your justifiably dispatched photo of a Brown Widow doused with insecticide nicely shows the typical orange coloration of the hourglass and the striped legs. According to BugGuide the Brown Widow has a distribution: “World wide in the tropical zone. It was introduced in Florida and has since been observed moving north through Georgia, and into South Carolina; it has also been officially recorded in California, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. Habitat Found around buildings in tropical climates. (1)However, it is an introduced species and is the most human-adapted of the species occurring in the South Eastern US. Its webs may occur anywhere there is sufficient space to make one. It may be extremely abundant on houses and other man-made structures (e.g., barns, fences, guard rails, bridges). It reproduces frequently and disperses rapidly, making it nearly impossible to control.” Since it is an introduced species, we will be tagging it as an Invasive Exotic.
Huge female spider with egg sac
Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Hello – We were pulling up rocks from around my garden pond to replace the liner and came across this big spider, with a baby sac. Do you know what kind it is? If you like the picture, feel free to post it. Just let me know if you do. I named her Mary Beth, the Jurassic Pregnant Pond Spider. We relocated here to a different part of the yard.
Cathy
Miamisburg, Ohio
Female Fishing Spider with Egg Sac
Hi Cathy,
This is a female Fishing Spider in the genus Dolomedes, probably the Northern Dolomedes, Dolomedes tenebrosus. They are generally associated with bodies of water, which makes her habitat around your pond significant.
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