
Comments & ID Thoughts
This spider sets up web at night and is gone in morning. Been two nights in a row. It has a round big body that is yellow. It appears to have some black on its legs. It’s approximately the size of1.5 quarters. This was taken in Vero Beach Florida. I have a video as well I can share. It’s hard to see colors when flash goes off.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Apr 16, 2019
- Photographed: Apr 15, 2019
- Spider: Araneidae (Orb-weavers)
- Location: Vero beach, Florida, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: High foliage (includes trees and tree trunks)
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes: Webs
Hi, she’s an orbweaver spider. The web of female orbweavers is usually a pattern of concentric circles with radiating linear bands from the center. The web is intended to catch large flying insects. In the morning the spider stays nearby in a cool dark safe place. Some will wrap leaves around their bodies like blankets. I can’t see her well enough (I know it’s tricky to take pictures at night) to identify. From your description, one spider image you could look for is Argiope aurantia. That is the roundest and most yellow orbweaver in your area.
Let me try and get a better photo. She came back last night. I looked up that spider and the major difference I see is that mine appears to be a solid yellow body where the argiope aurantia appears to have black on its body.
If you can get another photo it needs to be posted as a new post with a note. Countless hours have been spent by people, like me, figuring out that it isn’t possible to add a new photo to an old post. Nephila clavipes is another possibility.
I can’t be 100% sure from this image, but the most likely species is Eriophora ravilla (Tropical Orb-weaver).
That was my first hunch after darkening the image, but still lacks detail.