Orb Web Spiders Common to Pennsylvania
- A yellow garden orb weaver displays its bright colors.garden spider image by tomcat2170 from Fotolia.com
The largest segment of a spider's body is the abdomen. The yellow garden spider's abdomen is bright yellow and black. The legs are black with some yellow and occasionally red. The yellow garden spider can grow to nearly 3 inches long from leg tip to leg tip. It is the largest of the orb weavers in Pennsylvania. The female is more than double the size of the male. The yellow garden spider is found on lower grass stalks and in places where it can build undisturbed. To support its size, it spins an impressive web that is often more than 2 feet across. - A banded orb weaver spider waiting for its next meal.spider and spider web image by Larry Ye from Fotolia.com
The abdomen of the banded spider is light yellow with numerous thin bands of black. The legs are light yellow with dark splotches or stripes. These spiders often turn the black undersides of their abdomens in a southerly direction when in the web to maximize their heat gain. This behavior is adaptive because this species is active very late into the fall season. - This web is in a typical habitat for marbled spiders.toile image by valpictures from Fotolia.com
These spiders have abdomens with swirled shades of yellow, orange, brown, purple or, sometimes, almost entirely white. The legs are shades of yellow, brown and orange. Marbled spiders are often in urban locales and frequently found in short vegetation. - This spider shows the prominent markings of a cross spider.cross spider image by Anna Kowalczyk from Fotolia.com
Cross spiders have an abdomen that has a yellow to brown background. Toward the back of the abdomen are four strips of light color forming a cross. The legs of these spiders are various shades of brown. As is usual in all spiders, the female is larger than the male. Its habitats include woods, fields and gardens. It appears to be attracted to light, as it is also often found near buildings or in stairwells that are well-lit. - Spider packaging its fly dinnerspider wrapping up lunch image by Ron Downey from Fotolia.com
Spiders play a vital role in helping to control the flying pest populations. Orb web spiders are not dangerous to humans unless a person is particularly sensitive to their venom. Avoid disturbing a female spider guarding its egg sac, or it will react violently.
