Araneidae: Orb Weavers

Araneidae are the orb weavers. These harmless spiders have poor eyesight and make large, circular webs to catch prey. This is a diverse family, with both diurnal and nocturnal species. Araneids are quite beautiful and often occur in gardens, on bridges, and other outdoor habitats. This family includes the well-known Argiope aurantia (yellow garden spider).

Larinioides spp. are nocturnal orb weavers that often occur on bridges near water. We have three species, L. cornutus, L. patagiata, and L. sclopetaria. I'm not positive on the species id's below. Dr. Herbert Levi assisted me in identifications. A few of these were photographed in the Chicago, Illinois area, and the rest in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. These spiders are variable in size; females are 6 to 14 mm, males are 5 to 9 mm, and legspans are 18 to 35 mm. L. cornutus overwinter as immatures and can live for several years according to Weber (Spiders of the North Woods).


Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	L. sclopetaria


L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	L. patagiata


L. cornutus	L. cornutus	Larinioides (IL)	L. patagiata (IL)	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.


L. sclopetaria	Larinioides sp.	L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria


Larinioides sp.	L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	Larinioides sp.	Larinioides sp.	L. sclopetaria


L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	L. sclopetaria	Bus stop habitat	Larinioides sp.

Argiope aurantia is the familiar black and yellow garden spider. They are widespread in the United States and often found in fields near wooded or agricultural areas during the day. They make zigzag patterns in their webs. These are large spiders; females are 19 to 28 mm, males are 5 to 8 mm, and legspans are 18 to 70 mm. Eggs occur in later summer/fall and spiderlings overwinter in the egg sacs. Thanks to Lindsey Pyne of Virginia for the dragonfly pic and Madeline S. Seljan for the great pics of Charlie!


With dragonfly	A spider named Charlie with prey		Charlie in her web.


Charlie	Gravid Charlie	Charlie with an eggsac. What a beauty!

Neoscona crucifera is a large and common species in gardens and around houses. These attractive individuals were photographed in Minneapolis/St. Paul.