Looking for spider ID

[AdamL]

Hello!
Just joined and am glad to be here. :

I've lived in Southern Cal WNW of LA for 19 years and have just seen this handsome fellow in my front yard. The body is 1" long and his web is in a bush visited by honey bees.

I couln't find him in my Audobon guide and any help is appreciated!

Thanks,
AdamL

 

[zinto]

Welcome to the Boards!! (Sorry, I have no idea on the spider! )

 

[Gigas]

Welcome, its an Argiope sp. possibly an Argiope trifasciata

 

[Glen Southern]

I'd go with Gigus on Argiope trifasciata.

 

[Bungholio]

Wow what a nice Argiope! I never saw a Argiope like this one.

 

[AdamL]

Many thanks to Gigus and Glen. After getting your replies I was able to find lots of images of the Argiope trifasciata via Google images. Compared to most, my front yard guest has only minor differences in appearance (e.g., from the Canary Islands and Canada). However there were some from Orange County (just south of LA) that look identical.

The other sites tell me this is a female. She's doing very well, surviving quite nicely on the honey bees that buzz the flowers in her bush. As I mentioned in the first post I've been here 19 years and this is the first one I've seen. My wife, the gardener, is disturbed by the comment that this is a common garden spider!

Thanks again,
AdamL

 

[Glen Southern]

I have an Argiope egg sac here from a female that has since passed away. I opened it the other day keep checking under the microscope and the little beggers seem to be doing ok. I just hope I can get them through the winter and into adulthood. I need to get designing a new set-up for them with lots of air flow.

Good luck with yours. Let mother nature do her thing and it will do well (if the birds don't get her)

 

[AdamL]

How big is it?

I thought it might be interesting to measure this one. The body is at 28mm. From the tip of the uppermost right leg to the lowermost right is 53mm. She curled under a few mm as I approached her so it would be closer to 56mm when undisturbed (as in the first posting).

In our neighborhood that's BIG!

Cheers!
AdamL