A couple of weeks ago, I posted some pictures of some large spiders and asked for help in identifying one of them. Jerry Cates of Bugs In The News got back to me quite quickly, and identified the mystery spider as Nephila clavipes - the same species as the other ones shown in that post.
I took some more spider pictures this week. I've identified the species. Can you? The pictures are below the fold, along with some information about the size and where it was spotted. I'll post my identification on Monday.
The spider in these two pictures was a little less than an inch long (approx 3/4"-7-8"). It was found sitting head down on it's web, which was strung between a bush and a fence. The center of the web was about 3' above ground level, and the diameter of the web was about 8 inches.
Picture 1 (above) was taken from near the ground, looking up at the spider. Picture 2 (below) was taken looking straight on at the spider. Both were taken using a 100mm macro lens on a Pentax istD digital SLR. The pictures here are thumbnails, and you can click on them to view a larger version.
Good luck.
The Promised Monday Update:
This one was identified fairly quickly. It's a Spiny-backed Orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis). I've got some more arthropod pix sorted out, and I'll be posting another one on Friday.
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looks like a spinybacked orbweaver - Gasteracantha cancriformis. cute!
I second aj's answer. The ones I run into around my yard all seem to have their dots oriented into smilie faces. Cool spiders, too bad they never get too large.
I'm with aj and Chris on this one, althogh I haver never seen one of these arachnids with a smiley face on it.
That's a spiny orb weaver, also known as a crab spider. They are very common in South Florida.
http://www.shadygrovetrainingcenter.com/Wildlife/images/Insects/Spiney_…
I concur with the others, crab spider.
That's kind of a small web, though. I have seen some that were about three feet across or more. They are very common making webs between palm trees here in south Florida.
Good thing they make those little puffs in the web (so I can see them) or I would have walked through a whole lot of them.
While that's commonly called a crab spider, the term "crab spider" more properly refers to another group of spiders entirely. Stick with spiny or tropical orb weaver.
They have some of the strongest webbing I've encountered locally. I can't count the number of times I've had one of them pull the glasses from my face when I walked into it and then tried backing up.
Have you checked out this spider identification site?
I think the crab spiders in my area are yellow critters that hang around in the flower clusters of goldenrods, waiting to catch flies with their rather long first 2 pairs of legs.
Charlotte?
I can't tell for sure unless you post an .mp3 of her singing, of course...
That is NOT the Crab Spider, They don't make a web as such!
Rather the NEPHITA CLAVIPES the shell will remind you very much of the Blue Crab of the salt water type. They just recently made their way to TEXAS and have many people trying to find W,W,W, & Where did they come from ? Some are bright ORANGE others WHITE and all have the black dots and shiney black legs. I think they originated in the islands of the Carribean and migrated here VIA storms or fruit and vegitation washed up on shore!
Gasteracantha cancriformis, they exist in various colors like white, yellow, orange, purple, green, but the most common are the first two. They aren't dangerous, you can pick them with your hands, they almost never bite, and their bite is very soft. I used to play with them all the time when I was a kid.