Type of Florida Spider
July 28, 2009
Please help me identify this spider.
Many Thanks,
Magnus
Satellite Beach, FL
Orchard Orbweaver
Dear Magnus,
The Orchard Orbweaver, Leucauge venusta, is a common spider in the Southeast. According to BugGuide its habitat is : “Woodlands. Builds in low shrubs or small trees, close to the ground“ and it can be identified by the “Slightly elongated abdomen marked with silver, yellow, black, green, and bright orange or pink spots. Spins its web at an angle and hangs in the center.”
Fishing Spider
July 28, 2009
WTB,
I promised you these a long time ago. Here are the images of a spider
eating the frog. It’s a little hard to make out but it is probably a green
tree frog and this is on a leaf of a Sagittaria. It occurred in our little
nature area, the Kiawah Swamp Garden. Not sure of the actual type of
spider. Kinda creepy though; don’t usually consider consumption in that
direction among Phyla.
Here are a couple of other links for your enjoyment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PZTILeS4jo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFg2-bkjwPg
KICA Maint
Kiawah Island, SC
February 29, 2008
Thanks for checking on this. We’ve used your site to ID a lot of our
questions already but this one had us stumped. I’ll have to send you an
image we have of a spider, I’m assuming a fishing spider, eating a green
tree frog. It was back pre-digital so we’ll see how the scan comes out.
Thanks again for the great work you do,
Norm Shea
Director, Lakes Management
Six Spotted Fishing Spider eats Tree Frog
Dear KICA Maint,
Thanks for sending these amazing documents of a Six Spotted Fishing Spider eating a Tree Frog. It is a wonderful addition to our recent posting of a Common House Spider feasting on a Skink. We enjoyed watching your videos of Alligators.
Six Spotted Fishing Spider eats Tree Frog
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
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