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Submitted: December 1, 2008
Image Size: 6.8 MB
Resolution: 3030×3939

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Camera Data

Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 40D
Shutter Speed:1/332 second
Aperture:F/9.0
Focal Length:105 mm
ISO Speed:200
Date Taken:Nov 2, 2008, 1:30:28 PM

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Orb-weaver Spider 40D0030188by ~Cristian-M

Photography / Animals, Plants & Nature / Invertebrates

Orb-weaver spider (Family Araneidae)

The orb-weaver spiders (Family Araneidae) are the builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields and forests. The Family is a large one, including over 2800 species in over 160 genera worldwide, making it the third largest Family of spiders known (behind Salticidae and Linyphiidae).

Generally, orb-weaving spiders are three-clawed builders of flat webs with sticky spiral capture silk. The building of a web is an engineering feat, begun when the spider floats a line on the wind to another surface. The spider secures the line and then drops another line from the center, making a "Y". The rest of the scaffolding follows with many radii of non-sticky silk being constructed before a final spiral of sticky capture silk. The third claw is used to walk on the non-sticky part of the web. Characteristically, the prey insect that blunders into the sticky lines is stunned by a quick bite and then wrapped in silk. If the prey is a venomous insect, such as a wasp, wrapping may precede biting.

One feature of the webs of some orb-weavers is the stabilimentum, a crisscross band of silk through the center of the web. It is found in a number of genera, but Argiope, which includes the common garden spider of Europe as well as the yellow and banded garden spiders of North America, is a prime example. The band has been hypothesized to be a lure for prey, a marker to warn birds away from the web and a camouflage for the spider when it sits in the center of the web.

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