Garden Spider

[valhalla]

 
My black and yellow - bug eating - harmless garden spider disappeared sometime Tuesday night.  He was about the size of a quarter - maybe a bit bigger.  Who would have eatten him???? 

[Donna]

My black and yellow - bug eating - harmless garden spider disappeared sometime Tuesday night.  He was about the size of a quarter - maybe a bit bigger.  Who would have eatten him???? 

Could he have moved on to a new site? I think they do that! 

[Lou]

Speaking of large spiders, a few years back, I went to the Montezuma Wildlife Reserve with Dana, Carol, Marcia, Cathy Z, and Greg and we came across this monster spider as we walked Esker trail. This guy was huuuuge; at least three inches!   A rather larger wasp landed in his web and we watched in amazement as it went to work on it.

We later identified it as an Argiope. Apparently, these are good spiders to have in your garden because they keep pests away. (Yeah - like the neighbor's kids..)

Here are a couple of pictures.

Lou

[hawkwatcher]

Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think.
Grace

[Mirta]

Great job!!
That is a boy, probably looking for a female... Most of the big hairy spiders you can find walking are males. Females usually stay close their burrows
Mirta

Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think.
Grace

[Donna]

Great job!!
That is a boy, probably looking for a female... Most of the big hairy spiders you can find walking are males. Females usually stay close their burrows
Mirta

Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think.
Grace

Mirta just  's her  's

Donna

[valhalla]

We later identified it as an Argiope. Apparently, these are good spiders to have in your garden because they keep pests away. (Yeah - like the neighbor's kids..)

Here are a couple of pictures.

Lou

That's my missing guy!  We checked and we can't find him.  We think we found a Preying Mantis nest in the evergreen next to the web.  A PM would be able to take down my spider, wouldn't he?

[Mirta]

Yes, I DO!!!
 

Mirta just  's her   's

Donna

And I wish to ask Lou and Janet about that Argiope sp, bcs I don´t know it or can´t ID it.  
Lou, do you know which species of Argiope it is??
Thanks
Mirta

[valhalla]

Mirta - I just sent you via e-mail images of my garden spider.   

[Lou]

And I wish to ask Lou and Janet about that Argiope sp, bcs I don´t know it or can´t ID it.  
Lou, do you know which species of Argiope it is??
Thanks
Mirta

Here's a wikipedia page, which has some pictures, Mirta.

Lou

[Donna]

And I wish to ask Lou and Janet about that Argiope sp, bcs I don´t know it or can´t ID it.  
Lou, do you know which species of Argiope it is??
Thanks
Mirta

Here's a wikipedia page, which has some pictures, Mirta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_(spider)  Would this be the page Lou?

[Lou]

Yes. I guess it would be good of me to include the link.

Thanks Donna!

[Judi]

That's my missing guy!  We checked and we can't find him.  We think we found a Preying Mantis nest in the evergreen next to the web.  A PM would be able to take down my spider, wouldn't he?

It's too bad the Wikipedia pages don't include any info on who or what predators they have.  I'm sure there are a lot of them, including many birds, reptiles and mammals (opossums come to mind).

Any info on that aspect, Mirta?   

[valhalla]

   He never showed me his belly, so Mirta couldn't give me a specific ID.   

[Mirta]

It's too bad the Wikipedia pages don't include any info on who or what predators they have.  I'm sure there are a lot of them, including many birds, reptiles and mammals (opossums come to mind).

Any info on that aspect, Mirta?   

Spiders have a lot of predators: several mammals (from monkeys, bats, carnivores, insectivores to opossums), birds, frogs and toads, reptiles, other spiders, scorpions, other arachnids, insects (mantis, a lot of wasps, asassin bugs, etc), several parasites can kill them (fungus, bacterias, wasps, protozoans). And you must remember that most of the spides have short lifes, less than 1 year is common.

 

Mirta