Showing posts with label spiders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiders. Show all posts

Thursday, September 6, 2012

American Classic - An Ode to Argiope Aurantia

Few wild creatures are as ubiquitous in late summer as the arachnid known as "writing spider", "garden spider", "sewing machine spider" or by other equally apt names such as "giant black and yellow spider".

Blog posts proliferate in late summer with images of this noble creature. Often slinging its silken hammock close to a window or door or in the shrubs out front, it is frequently encountered in a sunny but sheltered spot near human habitations. She's probably been hanging around since the spring, but is only now growing large enough to be noticed.


 


Hours spent in silent stillness, hiding in plain sight, this large orb weaver quickly enshrouds her hapless prey in a silken cocoon.  



She recycles much of the central web each night, strengthening it and perhaps scrawling a new message   in the center just for you. Cool facts abound regarding this amazing creature; she packs a lot into her year on the stage, then leaves an egg sac or two with a few thousand offspring in hopes that one or two might survive to carry on the tradition. 

Wonder what happened to her mate...?