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Comments & ID Thoughts
I have no idea what this spider is. I've never seen one like it before, and it was pretty big, for a spider at least. In its pose in the image shown, it could easily fit inside a 20 cent piece. (Legs in pose included).
I thought the markings on it were cool, so if anyone has any ideas regarding its classification that would be neat.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Feb 14, 2024
- Photographed: Feb 14, 2024
- Spider: Socca pustulosa (Garden Orb-weaver Spider)
- Location: Auckland, Albany Area, New Zealand
- Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes:
Feb 17, 2019
Feb 12, 2019
Porirua , 
It’s certainly an orb weaver of some kind in the family araneidae. I’m not familiar with orb weavers from your corner the word, but one possibility is socca pustulosa, as a general comparative: https://inaturalist.nz/taxa/1430099-Socca-pustulosa/browse_photos
Thanks Soggy! Socca was a new genus as of 2022. https://wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/6301 The link is to the World Spider Catalogue’s details on the change. This was Eriophora pustulosa until then, I didn’t know about the reclassification. I’ll change it on our site.
@SoggyCoffee I was inspired to scan through the logs of the World Spider Catalog, now that I figured out how to update genera on the site. Right away I found a spider that I changed on the site. The Mediterranean Recluse, Loxosceles rufescens is now L. alicea. I’ll ask the site if there is a way to receive update alerts.
For an amateur like me who does this just to learn, taxonomy can be pretty intimidating, lol. For that reason I try to cross/reference a lot of different resources. It’s interesting how often taxa are reclassed, and why. That said the more I looked the less I was convinced this spider really falls under the Socca genus, but I still think we can all agree on orbweaver.