Comments & ID Thoughts
Gasteracantha cancriformis
(Spiny-backed Orb-weaver)
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Oct 11, 2019
- Photographed: Sep 10, 2019
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Sardis, Mississippi, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes:
I have had these little guys in my yard for a few years now. we always called them crab spiers because they look like cute little hermit crabs and they spin amazing webs. I have seen them on everything from flowers and those were solid white and then like this one where the huge web was from the power line had long strands before the main web then more connecting it to the ground it was amazing to see for such a tiny spider this one was just black and yellow also resembled Gasteracantha hasselti (Hasselt’s Spiny Spider) so was… Read more »
I agree, G. cancriformis. There is another user here, Itsy Bitsy, that really enjoys this species.
If you can hold something dark or black behind the specimen, it might help your focus.
That’s good advice. I try to swing a spider on its silk to the bark of a tree to get better results from my cellphone’s camera. If it isn’t a web spider I try to get it to walk onto a concrete or asphalt surface. I’m experimenting. I’m currently using a goosenecked-mini LED lamp, like a desk lamp, but it fits in my palm. I can angle the light without having to contort my hand. It works best if the light source doesn’t hit the spider directly, just glances over it.
Arg! I wrote Itsy Bitsy when I meant Tangled Web!
Also: the best results I have seen are from an Olloclip, which is a macro lens that fits onto a phone camera. There are several of these sorts of products. The Xenvo brand that I use works amazingly and I found it on amazon prime for $30. Clips right onto my iphone 8.
I’m using the Xenvo brand. It is really easy to attach. It fogged up often when I used it in fog (that shouldn’t be a surprise). I just showed someone a photo I took with it and he was surprised that I could get such a detailed photo with a cellphone. It comes with a nice carrying case too. I’m using it on a LG smartphone. It works best with an extra light source.