An apt description of the Silver Argiope spider who was discovered by a volunteer in the Garden this morning. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders explains that there is silvery short hair on upper surface of female’s cephalothorax (hence the name). In the picture, she's upside down, just like the book predicts. Frankly, I would have thought a more descriptive name would be honkin’ big yellow-speckled spider with front feeler thingies that are twice as long as her front legs. But that’s just me.It seems that “few females survive to maturity, but many males survive”. But then it’s payback time. As Audubon delicately explains: “Male twitches the web of female to learn when it is safe to approach. Males is often eaten by female”.
In other words, If this web's twitchin, join me in the kitchen.
3 comments:
Orb Weavers are cool spiders. They remake their webs anew each day and don't eat too many small children.
Is that what this lady is? I loved the zig-zag web. And this one looked big enough to at least take a sizable bite out of a small child.
Ick.
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