This Orb Weaver Spider is relatively common in Florida and looks like it has red lights glowing on it for defensive purposes, Despite the appearance of two bright red triangles on its abdomen that look like at first glance like an hourglass it is not poisonous like the Black Widow - its "teeth" would have trouble penetrating human skin in any case, but it is very beneficial feasting mostly on mosquitoes and small flies.
These colorful, delicate spiders make circular webs that are usually positioned horizontally or at an angle to the ground, and they typically hang in the middle of their webs. The carapace appears yellow-green, darker on the sides. The abdomen is somewhat elongated and can be variably colored with silver, greens, yellows, reds and some blues. The legs are slender and long.
Orange Marbled Orb Weaver Spider in Macro - this is the perfect Halloween or "Pumpkin Spider" as it matures to a bright orange in October. Jack-O-Lantern Head and Eight big eyes staring at you - what's not to love! This one was blown out of its web onto the deck in a storm and like most Orb Weavers they are not great "Walkers" and people have nothing to fear. They are gentle spiders and quite patient while I filmed with the lens about an inch away. You can see it set a silk thread to secure itself several times so it could jump to escape if need be. This gorgeous spider was safely put back in the brush.
I've seen these little spiders off and on over the years, but never one in such an accesible location for filming. This little Orb Weaver was in our backyard maybe 20 feet from where I found it's huge relative The Golden Web Orb Weaver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RXyYzjzZvs earlier in the summer.
But this Orb Weaver spider is only about half an inch across. It is sometimes called a "crab spider", but crab isn't what comes to mind when I see this little jewel of a spider. I don't know if it's just me and the macro lens, but the top of the spider looks a lot like a porcelain Foo Dog or Bowser from Super Mario Brothers.It appears to me to have an eastern art look to it.
The purpose of this amazing colorful deception is to repel potential predators and avoid being eaten. Far from being scary to my eye it looks a bit like a happy face with rays of sunshine. But then I don't eat spiders! Nevertheless, it is a very attractive, beneficial and entertaining little spider. In the video it eats a caught mosquito and also shows a serious aversion to vegetables, as lacking insects, I threw a small flower and piece of green leaf into its web to get it to move around - after which it quickly threw them out of the nest with an expression of obvious disdain! It seemed to be all business and fastidiously keeping a tidy web lest it miss out on a meal, it certainly had no intentions of humoring me. These spiders are small and their bite reportedly causes a very mild reaction and it is extremely unlikely that anyone would be bitten. If you see this colorful little spider let it be and enjoy!
Beautiful Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider In Her Amazing Golden Web (Florida)
The Business Side of a Large Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider in Florida. In part two I'll test the strength of this spider silk!
Much to my surprise a giant Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider took up residence in our Florida backyard while we were on vacation. This 4 inch long amazing specimen is a female. The male, which I did not see, is a fraction of her size. I almost walked right into her as she perched about 5 feet off the ground in a web that was on the order of 8 feet by 4 feet, and characteristically from what I've read the web was tilted at an angle. Of course my first thought was get a video of her. As she was so docile and unconcerned by my presences that was not a problem. In the video the giant spider proceeds to do what can only be described as grooming, stretching and scratching. I guess even huge spiders get an itch now and then. She is basically just chillin' out in her amazing golden web - a spider this big has a personality!
Just as in the case of beneficial snakes these big spiders should not be killed, despite their intimidating manner they are not poisonous. I grabbed a dead tree branch and started to roll up the web kind of like cotton candy and surprisingly the big spider gathered within the web on the branch and made no attempt to run - they are not built for "running" by the way and do not like to be on solid ground where they move very slowly compared to say a wolf spider or black widow.
In the second photo above of the underside you can see the spider hanging on a large "rope" of her golden web. She stayed absolutely still and made no attempt to flee, but gave an awesome display of bio-luminescence in red, green and yellow as her only defense as "running" would be useless. After getting to know it a bit and having fleeting thoughts of keeping it as a pet - I let her go in the heavy brush behind the house where she will rebuild a golden web away from people and continue to consume large insects. Four inches long, pretty colors, bio-luminescent displays of red, yellow and green, a head that looks just like a human skull, and soft beautiful golden silk that is some of the strongest biological material on the planet - what's not to like. I kept a piece of the silk web "rope" as it was very much just like thread and in part two of this blog I give the golden silk a strength test!
