Marbled Orbweaver Spider

(People with arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, can in some cases have reactions triggered by just the image of a spider. To view my images of a Marbled Orbweaver Spider just click on the clip art spider.)

I was walking through an overgrown field near our cabin and found the large web of an orbweaver spider in an Autumn Olive tree. Orbweavers are very large spiders that can reach 1 1/4 inches but it often takes some hunting to find the spider after you've found the web. Once the orbweaver creates its web, it will construct a hiding place out of leaves at the edge of the web. The spider monitors vibrations via a “signal strand” attached to the web. I found the spiders hiding place and peeled back the leaves to reveal a Marbled Orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus).



The abdomen of this Marbled Orbweaver spider.



They have eight eyes arranged in two horizontal rows of four eyes each. The outer pair of eyes are spaced very close together with the other four eyes in the center of the face. Orb weavers are completely harmless to humans and their pets, but still inspire fear in most people.