Awesome looking Araneus drops into my lap

[Moltar]

Well not literally. My friend showed up with a deli cup for me containing this bright orange little gal. Although we have larger, drabber Araneus all over the place here in Maryland, I've never seen one like this. Sweet, eh?

She looks a little dehydrated...

Here's a lousy phone pic cleaned up and enhanced a bit to show detail in the "cat face".

Any thoughts on the actual species and range? Since my friends workplace has all sorts of exotic produce coming in and the spider was found scurrying across the kitchen floor we figure she may have hitched a ride on some produce from points south.

Also i'm not sure how best to set up an orb weaver in captivity so any enclosure pics or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[rasputin]

Ethan,

Your Araneus appears to be Araneus diadematus, known as a garden spider or European garden spider and are a bit common across the states. She's a pretty specimen. The genus is remarkable easy to take keep in captivity. I keep Charlotte A. Cavatica, an Araneus cavaticus - just fed her too. I have to admit a partiality towards this genus.

So, as far as husbandry goes...A taller enclosure is always nice but not absolutely pertinent for this species. My suggestion is to get a 4"x4"x8" cube from hobby lobby, give it a little substrate at the bottom (not the most important thing for an arboreal true spider but helps with humidity - .5"-1" will do), branches vertically up two opposing sides so she can web between them and maybe a branch crossing the top of the vertical branches from one side to the other, and that's pretty much it. I keep A. cavacticus at a max of 60% but as dry as 40% RH. Spray a little water on a side of the enclosure for her to drink from the droplets ever so oft and I use my hemostats to offer her crickets every few days or whenever she's got nothing hanging in her little line of food (it should be called a buffet as that's what it resembles).

 

[Moltar]

Thanks rasputin. You say they're common across the states but I've spent plenty of time in MD, WV and VA looking for bugs and such but I've never seen one of these brightly colored variants. Are they more common say, in the south or the west? Maybe I've just been unlucky in the past?

Anyway, I appreciate the setup info as well. I'll jump on that this evening and likely post pics in a few days once she gets her web going.

 

[rasputin]

Ethan,

Here is where my information came from and although it's printed, it may very well have holes across the states:

"The range of the Araneus diadematus extends from New England and adjacent Canada across the northern states to Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia." Kaston, B. 1972. How To Know the Spiders. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers.

If the following happens let me know and I will give you my address, hahahahaha:

 

[Moltar]

Oohhh... so, if anything i'm a bit far south for these guys, not too far north. If I get eggs i'll gladly ship you the whole sac. I don't really want to deal with all that and if you do then great.

Judging from her skinny, dehydrated appearance she could have laid a sac recently so assuming they stay fertile forever from one mating (aren't most true spideys this way?) there may be a sac a few weeks down the road. I'll let you know.

That's a great pic of those spiderlings, by the way.

 

[rasputin]

I stole that pic from a wiki post on that species, the slings are gorgeous. Yeah, I believe they stay fertile although Charlotte has not given me a 2nd sack yet and I've had her since the end of September when she produced her last sack. She did take in a couple large crix last night so we'll see if this doesn't stimulate a sack out of her as that's what does it for my Steatodas.

Yours doesn't look all too dehydrated, I believe that's what that species looks like but a couple feedings down the road it'll show for sure. I don't mind dealing with the slings. Although the species is relatively docile, they will guard the eggsack so it won't be the easiest thing to take but that's already thinking too far ahead into "what if" situations.

 

[jsloan]

This is not A. diadematus. It is an adult female A. marmoreus, another very common orb weaver.

There's no need to fix it up with a cage or anything. It's going to die. The abdomen is shrivelled because it has recently laid its eggs and lost a great deal of its body mass in the process. Once they do that their life is pretty much spent. It's a natural life cycle for this spider. The species is native to your area and is also found in much of NA and Europe.

A. marmoreus varies widely in coloration and abdominal pattern. This site shows some of the different varieties of the species:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2016

 

[rasputin]

This is not A. diadematus. It is an adult female A. marmoreus, another very common orb weaver.

There's no need to fix it up with a cage or anything. It's going to die. The abdomen is shrivelled because it has recently laid its eggs and lost a great deal of its body mass in the process. Once they do that their life is pretty much spent. It's a natural life cycle for this spider. The species is native to your area and is also found in much of NA and Europe.

A. marmoreus varies widely in coloration and abdominal pattern. This site shows some of the different varieties of the species:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2016

John, thanks for the correction. If you're familiar with A. diadematus then you can see how they can be easily confused as morphs within each sp do look very similar.

Am I to assume that since you did that photo spread on the bugguide that it is through your personal experience with this species that this specimen is as good as dead? Have you noted this with multiple specimens over multiple seasons?

 

[Moltar]

Thanks jsloan. That's an amazing variety shown on your linked bugguide page! All those color variations remind me of the crazy color forms available in some herps. Could Araneus be the next "big thing" in arachnoculture? (yeah, right)

Do you know if you'll see that wide variety within one sac or will a sac be comprised of only similarly colored individuals?

In spite of your assesment, I'm going to go ahead and set up a simple enclosure, I have everything I need at home already. Even if she only lives a couple of weeks it will still be nice to see her make a web and hopefully feed. She still seems fairly active so i guess it's worth a try, right?

 

[rasputin]

Can be of no harm to do so. It's a spider, unlike taking in a convulescent dog that craps all over itself, it won't be any problem.

 

[jsloan]

John, thanks for the correction. If you're familiar with A. diadematus then you can see how they can be easily confused as morphs within each sp do look very similar.

You're right! Some of them look very much alike. Check out this collection of A. diadematus morphs a fellow in Europe put together.

http://spinnen-forum.de/smf/index.php?topic=2086.msg6834

Now compare the spider in the bottom row, second from the left, to this photo of an adult female A. marmoreus I took last summer (I verified the ID via the epigyne). The resemblance is very close:

Also, note how closely the spider in the middle of the top row resembles Moltar's spider. It's easy to mistake one species for the other.

Am I to assume that since you did that photo spread on the bugguide that it is through your personal experience with this species that this specimen is as good as dead? Have you noted this with multiple specimens over multiple seasons?

I didn't actually do that photo spread. I just took a lot of the pictures and someone else put the page together. Here's where I originally posted most of my A. marmoreus pics:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/320060

I have observed A. maromoreus where I live, over about the past five years, and I spent a lot of time on them this past season after finding a wide variety of color patterns and varieties in a small area.

The females do lay their eggs in the fall, then die. The egg sac overwinters and the young emerge in the spring. In this region adult females disappear by about the first week of October and juveniles don't emerge until around April. Alberta summers are too short for a newly-hatched spiderling to molt enough times to reach adulthood in one season. So, in these colder climates the spiders have a two year life span. Spiders born in the spring overwinter a second time as juveniles and mature in their second year. Then, they lay their eggs in the fall and die, starting the cycle all over again. In more southern areas, where the warm season lasts longer, the same species may be able to mature and lay eggs in only one year, so the same species down in the warmer states could have a one year life cycle.

As far as the literature on these spiders, Roberts (1995) writes that A. diadematus in Europe lays its eggs in the fall and then the female stays with the sac until she dies. The spiderlings emerge the following spring. Dondale (2003) does mention that unmated adult female A. diadematus can overwinter and emerge the following spring (speaking of North America) - so, I guess that is an exception to them all dying in the fall. I do a lot of active collecting, and while A. diadematus is not found in my area, A. marmoreus is abundant and I have never found an adult female in the spring. So, I'm pretty sure the adults all die in the fall.

Of course, in science nothing is ever settled once and for all! I wouldn't say that these spiders never lay a second egg sac, but I think it is unlikely. It would be very interesting if Moltar kept the spider and was able to fatten it back up again. It could also be the adults die because there isn't as much food for them in the winter. One thing I have noticed is that toward the end of the fall the adult females stop repairing their webs or making new ones, even if the weather is still relatively warm and prey is still about. They each disappear not long after that, within a couple of weeks or so. That also suggests to me that they are reaching the end of their lives.

 

[jsloan]

Do you know if you'll see that wide variety within one sac or will a sac be comprised of only similarly colored individuals?

I'm not really sure, one way or the other. I found a large variety of different colors and patterns for these spiders last summer, and most of them were within about 30 yards of each other. That suggests to me that some of them might have been from the same egg sac. If I come across any masses of hatchlings next spring I plan to collect and raise as many as I can to see what colors develop. I'm not sure yet whether color in these spiders is purely a matter of genetics, though. I was able to document a color change in at least one of them last summer over a period of several weeks. I posted before and after photos here:

http://forum.canadianarachnology.org/viewtopic.php?t=686

Also, color may depend on such things as diet and even the amount of sunlight they're exposed to. I read somewhere that spiders living in shaded areas tend to be have lighter colors than ones that get more sun. I'm not sure how accurate that is, though.

In spite of your assesment, I'm going to go ahead and set up a simple enclosure, I have everything I need at home already. Even if she only lives a couple of weeks it will still be nice to see her make a web and hopefully feed. She still seems fairly active so i guess it's worth a try, right?

Go for it. As long as the spider is still alive who knows what it might teach us. I tried that with some A. marmoreus females here, but they all died anyway, even though I took them from their webs before they laid eggs. Be sure and post updates on how she does.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that no A. marmoreus lays its eggs in the retreat it uses off to one side of its web (at least in my area). I think they try and hide them or place them in a protected spot. I found one egg sac attached to a leaf in a grassy area about 4 inches off the ground, for example. Most of the cluster masses of spiderlings I've ever seen have all been close to the ground, too, which makes me think they avoid putting their eggs up high. My theory is this helps the eggs survive the -30C to -40C temps we can get here in the winter. Down toward the ground the egg sac would be covered by snow and insulted from the worst of the cold weather. Of course, that doesn't explain how the eggs of other species survive cold weather! One Larionoides cornutus (Araneidae) I found with her egg sac was about 6 feet off the ground in a curled up leaf. That was in mid summer, though, so perhaps that species hatches before fall and the young overwinter somewhere lower down, FWIW.

 

[Moltar]

GREAT information and links. Thanks again John. I'll update any status changes with my girl. I guess it does seem pretty unlikely that she'll construct another web but we'll see.

 

[Moltar]

Well, you guys were right about it dieing. When I got home she was already starting to curl up, not dead yet but well on the way. I didn't get a chance to check her this morning but she's probably dead by now. Ahhh the circle of life... In the spring i'm going to go over to the store where my friend found her and look around in the wooded area out back for spiderlings.

 

[spike182]

is this a Araneus diadematus?

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab263/spike182/CreepyCat013.jpg

 

[jsloan]

is this a Araneus diadematus?

That looks a lot like a "cat-faced spider", Araneus gemmoides to me. Here are some images of that species for comparison:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/33149/bgimage