Shamrock Spider

Spiders come in many shapes, colors and sizes, and are an interesting part of nature. 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 Shamrock Spider just click on the clip art spider.

While most people are familiar with common house spiders, late summer/early fall is the time to look for the large and colorful Orb Weaver spiders. During my wandering on our property I was able to capture some images of a Shamrock Spider (Araneus trifolium) as it captured a bee in its web.

Soon after the bee flew into the web the Shamrock Spider ran back and forth across the web doing what looked like a "happy dance", but in reality was bite and run attacks on the bee. After the bee was subdued the spider removed it from the web.



With the bee held by several of the spider's 8 legs, it started to rotate the bee as it applied a silk web around the bee. Within seconds the bee was wrapped in a neat package for storage.



The Shamrock Spider can range from white to yellow to brown or orange, and can be distinguished from Garden Orb Weavers by the white bands on the legs.