I’m sorry for anyone who reads this blog with arachnophobia because I’m about to make a post that may send you running for the hills due to irational fears. We often come across Spiders in the garden. We probably have dozens of different varieties in a small area of the garden alone. I generally ignore them and let them eat bugs I dislike more.
But yesterday was different. I found this black spider with yellow dots on her back and belly and had to: 1) take pictures, 2) identify her. And because I spent a significant amount of time identifying what the spider was, you my readers must deal with my nerdiness.
First of all she had a strangely weaved web. I found a picture of an Orb weaving spider that looked like her so I dug deeper. After looking at dozens of pictures of different kind of (entirely harmless) orb weaving spiders I found what she was. A simple Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) eater of bugs (BugGuide here, Wikipedia here). I mean after all that work I would love to have a fancier name like Reynolds Goldbar Spider or something.
O.K. on to the pictures.
Related posts:
I love taking pictures of all of the different animals in my yard and identifying them. When I first moved here I would do it for animal tracks that I found in the snow. That was one thing that made it fun to go out in the snow.
Okay yep I’m runnin’ for the hills. YIKES!
Funny how some spiders are super gorgeous and super creepy at the same time!