Yellow and Black, Scarry looking bug in friend’s backyard
August 20, 2009
My friend sent me the attached picture of a black/Yellow sorta striped bug from her back yard. 2 questions….1. Is it poisonous or does it “bite”. (she has 3 children and watches my 3 when I’m at work.) 2. What is it?
Christina J. Kuckie
lockport, IL
- Golden Orbweaver
Dear Christina,
You aren’t worried about this beautiful Golden Orb Weaver being a thief? It is also called a Black and Yellow Garden Spider, Argiope aurantia, the spider from Charlotte’s Web. All spiders have venom, but very few will bite people and even fewer are dangerous. The Garden Spider minds its own business and stays in it web. It is not aggressive.
I think I have a picture of this spider too. I saw it on my garden fence while I was mowing.
So this post prompts me to ask a question…
I think on Crowley’s Ridge in north east Arkansas we must have absolutely mutant Argiope Aurantia. Everything I’ve ever read on them indicates that the adult body size is only about 2 inches, and I see here that this little guy (legs and all) is only 2 inches.
Here’s my quandry… the average body size around here is about 3 inches in the rural areas closest to the city (unfortunately we have very few within city limits in Jonesboro, AR). But out on the ridge near the rice fields, holy CRAP!!! Their bodies and legs get as big as your face!
I’ve seen pictures friends have taken over the years of these ‘dinner plate’ spiders, but never seen them myself. I see the 3 inch ones all the time though, and they lay between 2-4 egg sacs each! I wouldn’t have believed they were from the same spider except I saw her in the process of spinning her 3rd the day after she spun #2.
This fall I will make a concerted effort to document some of these monsters, as I can’t find any technical information that these spiders reach more than 2 inches in body size. Anyone else ever seen these reach gargantuan size?