Comments & ID Thoughts
This little yellow cutie was in my brother and sister-in-law’s car in Cumming, GA. It scurried towards the windshield dash while they drove, and they left to get dinner. When they returned to the car 5 minutes later, it was nowhere to be found.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Apr 16, 2021
- Photographed: Apr 16, 2021
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Cumming, Georgia, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
I have to add it was about the size of a pinky nail! I meant to add that to attributes!
Definitely a cutie! This looks to me like an orb-weaver, likely a juvenile.
Here is an identification guide for small Genus Araneus species in Eastern North America. The triangular shape of that dark patch on your spider has me leaning towards Araneus bonsallae.
Guide at BugGuide.net:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/521619
Juvenile A. bonsallae at BugGuide.net:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/929763/bgimage
I gave it a try too, https://bugguide.net/node/view/39832 an immature Araniella displicata was the closest one I found for the range. I agree that a juvenile A. bosallae is a close match in markings and range. Your guess is probably more likely. Toasterpeach, immature Orbweavers can fly! It’s called “ballooning,” That’s probably how it disappeared. It’s a cool phenomenon that was first documented by Charles Darwin. The immature spiders leave their siblings (reduces cannibalism greatly!) by feeling for a variety of atmospheric conditions. The hairs on their bodies and their pedipalp appendages can take readings for temperature, wind speed, the charge… Read more »
I considered Genus Araniella but dropped it early on in my search because I felt the body shape was too different. All the Araniella spiders I could find had smooth, egg-shaped bodies. The way this spider’s abdomen is almost triangular, tapering to a pointed tip, reminded me of a male Araneus. I was very pleased to find BugGuide.net’s special guide pages for small Araneus species of Eastern and Western North America. I spend most of my time with Araneus looking at the big species, the ones more people notice. I admit I was pretty unfamiliar with the smaller types. I… Read more »