1 post tagged “spiders”
They invaded my garden and terrorize the flies! They're creepy, they're crawly, they're spiders!
This spider and her identical sister (who I don't have a good picture of yet) moved into my potted-plant garden the other day. They are called Argiope Aurantia, or St. Andrew's Cross Spiders, or, more informally, black and yellow garden spiders.
They can apparently grow to have a body size of more than an inch long (eewwww!) but my new neighbors are at this time have bodies only a half inch long.
The trademark of the Genus Argiope is those zig-zags you see in the picture. Those are called stabilimentum and as the name implies, their purpose is to add stability to the web. Or, that's what some people think. Other theories are that it makes the spider look bigger and scarier to predators, or that it helps camouflage the spider, or that it adds visibility to the web so that birds don't fly through it.
Anyway, these spiders build webs and eat bugs and apparently live their entire lives in their webs before laying eggs and dying. It is this reason that I am not terrified of my new neighbors; they stand very little chance of ever trying to crawl on me. Also, they eat the flies, which are really an epidemic in mid to late summer at my apartment, because of the crabapple tree's rotting fruit.
So, eat away, little spiders! Free me from bajillions of flies! And enjoy living in my flowers.
