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- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Dec 26, 2020
- Photographed: Sep 1, 2020
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Sumter, South Carolina, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Unidentified
Picture ID 133246
She’s an elderly orbweaver. She looks dead. I think She’s a Tropical Orbweaver, Eriophora ravilla. She had time to oviposit her eggs into an egg sac. That’s why her abdomen looks shrunken. They are hungry,thirsty, and weak after that. It is the natural time of year for the adult females to die. Her eggs and hatchlings will survive in the insulated sac. Their bodies are also resistant to freezing. They will emerge when it is warm and their bodies are developed enough.
She definitely wasn’t dead. She parachuted down into my car at a work site from a wire grating above. Because she looked a bit like a jumper to me, I avoided using that for for the rest of the day until she left. I’ve got a side view also.
I’m glad to hear she’s alive and active. I’ve only seen this species, in-person, in the Sumter area around this time of year also. I’m not sure if you left her alone because you thought she could jump or to be respectful. If it was the jumping, don’t worry. The spiders that are dangerous to people where you live can’t jump upward and don’t bite unless they are being handled roughly or accidentally pressed against skin. My relatives had just moved to the area and were scared of almost all living things in Sumter. The most dangerous animal (besides humans)… Read more »