Last week I was walking along the Savage River in western MD when I came across this spider, anyone see one this color before or do you know what the name of this spider is?
Looks like an easy tie.
Looks like an orange marbled weaver. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araneus_marmoreus
In our garden this year, the tomato plants were host to quite a number of this common member of the weaver family, the garden orb.
First time ever, not a single horn worm.
I’ve seen, and I even think I have some photos of the yellow ones. I never knew what they were. I found mine along a small spring creek.
What does the bottom of the spider look like. If it’s the same one I have in my flower bed, I think it has maybe yellow stripes underneath. I am assuming they are harmless?
Thanks guys, I have seen many of the black and yellow varieties but never a orange one.
Rodney
The big black and yellow garden spiders are known to trap and eat huming birds. Hence it has been many years since one appeared in my garden. I relocated all of them to the fencerow at the back of the yard. The local thrush and finch population seemed appreciative.
Ed
The info about the humming birds is good to know, I will be sure the don’t build where that will happen. However, we maintain a healthy population of Carolina Wren and Brown Thrush, which probably take care of them before I know they are around.
I too have Carolina wrens, they are my favorite. I think I like them because they are loners and sleep where they can find a place for the night. They used to sleep ontop of the pillers on my back porch at night. This year for the first time in my life, I saw a ruby hummingbird moth. That was pretty awesome. The spider is a first. Up north in Mass. we got Garden spiders but looked slightly different. So, are they harmful to humans?
Of course they are…haven’t you seen the movie?
Spider bites, both poisonous and non-poisonous, are linked to infections, including MRSA. If you get bitten by any spider, you need check with a doctor to see if you need any inoculations.
Ed
Correctomundo!
A female to be exact. It’s harmless. Live one season and dies off with the frost. The eggs winter over if she was lucky.
As for the Garden Spider…
It’s harmless to humans. Non aggressive. It will bite if it feels threatened however and it does hurt. I’ve seen some braver souls than I, let them crawl onto their hands. Grabbing them isn’t a good idea. They stick with the same web throughout the season but will abandon it if it’s disturbed too much. I love watching these spiders, when I’m lucky enough to have one in my yard.
That is what we had up north in Massachusetts.
Thanks for the pics Mato, this was the first year I saw that species of spider. We have many of the black and yellow variety on our farm, when I see one I try and catch a small grasshopper or cricket and toss it in their web, pretty cool to watch them wrap it up in the web. The orange variety was pretty cool to see.
Rodney
It was the first year I stumbled on one them myself. I was fishing on the Pere Marquette River in Michigan (the salmon run). I saw what I thought was a salmon egg at the edge of the river. Wanting to give it a close look, I picked it up. I didn’t have my cheaters on (reading glasses for old farts). After I had the “egg” in hand I put my glasses on.
You would have wet yourself if you saw my reaction.
This is the most common one to watch out down here in the south… Brown Recluse spider
In just hours, one bite from this highly venomous Brown recluse can cause serious damage to living tissue.
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Mato, I’ll bet you were VERY suprised to see the salmon egg had eight leggs!!! They are pretty cool looking though with that shade of orange.
Rodney