#orb-weavers

[antiqueanimals]

Wildlife in North Carolina. June 1987. Illustration by David Williams.

Internet Archive

[aswewanderblog]

Image of the Day: Dispersal

I asked when I posted the Spiderweb Hung with Dew how everybody felt about spiders. Since nobody told me otherwise, I must conclude that you all like them, so I have taken the liberty of sending some to each of your homes. I’m just kidding, of course: They won’t listen to me. But with winter over, they may just show up anyway. If so, consider that while you might be frightened, we’re…

Image of the Day: Dispersal

[arachnophanatic]

Spotted orb-weavers (family Araneidae)

Neoscona sp., believed to all be N. arabesca

[arachnophanatic]

WESTERN SPOTTED ORB-WEAVERS (Neoscona oaxacensis)

[arachnophanatic]

ORB WEAVERS / Araneidae

Neoscona sp., male (left) and female (right)

[arachnophanatic]

Checking in with this spotted orb weaver (I’ve named her Morgana).

[dailydillard]

Outside in summer I watch the orb-weavers, the spiders at their wheels. Last summer I watched one spin her web, which was especially interesting because the light just happened to be such that I couldn't see the web at all. I read that spiders lay their major straight lines with fluid that isn't sticky, and then lay a nonsticky spiral. Then they walk along that safe road and lay a sticky spiral going the other way. It seems to be very much a matter of concentration. The spider I watched was a matter of mystery: she seemed to be scrambling up, down, and across the air. There was a small white mass of silk visible at the center of the orb, and she returned to this hub after each frenzied foray between air and air. It was a sort of Tinker Creek to her, from which she bore lightly in every direction an invisible news.

Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974

[arachnophanatic]

Immature spotted orb-weavers / Neoscona sp.