Very odd spiders.

[bugmankeith]

I found these two next to eachother in the forest by my house. I brought them home and let them go in my bushes and they are already making a huge web. They shake when they are disturbed on the web, and I noticed they come in two different colors, what species are they?

 

[padkison]

Try looking them up under spiny orb weavers on bugguide.net

 

[bugmankeith]

They only have 2 spiny orb weavers on that site, and none even look like mine.

 

[bugmankeith]

I found the name elsewhere, Spiny-Bellied Orb Weaver. The one to the right is a brown color variation, one at left is the common color, and both are females.

 

[Code Monkey]

Micrathena gracilis; used these in our study last month.

 

[bugmankeith]

The ones in my backyard are making awesome webs, and are catching alot of bugs, they adapt well to different surroundings.

 

[CaptMonkey]

Hmm... are there other species in this genus or do these guys just have more color variations depending on their locale? The ones we have here in Georgia don't have nearly as much white on them, mostly just black and yellow. Here's a picture of one that I took next to my apartment. Although it doesn't showcase what I mean very well since my flash made him look a little white in places. I'll see if I can't get a better shot of them sometime.

 

[insect714]

Who wants to send me some??

I would love to have a few of these guys in my collection....I know that they do not live as long as alot of other spp. of spiders in the hobby but they are beautiful and would be fun to have. PM me if willing....

Many Thanks,
jon

 

[bugmankeith]

The ones I released in my yard are flourishing, the forest I found them in had no bug activity, but now in the Rose Of Sharon bushes they catch flies and gnats everyday, and now the spiders are fat, twice the size of when I caught them!

Captmonkey, these spiders have a few color variations. One I found had a brown body instead of the usual black, and some have more white or more black on their abdomen then others, one even had a few dots of yellow on the abdomen!


I cant find any males though, so I guess no offspring. I would love to have them breed in my yard and see this species year after year.

 

[bugmankeith]

Finally used Macro on my camera, here is a before and now after picture of this gorgeous spider,who just made an eggcase 2 days ago!

Before

After