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Comments & ID Thoughts
This spider was larger than the other garden dwelling spiders I've seen! It was about the size of a toonie (slightly smaller than a silver dollar) and was moving quite slowly across my patio on this cool but dry Mid-November day. I would guess it's a Cross Orb Weaver.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Nov 13, 2019
- Photographed: Nov 13, 2019
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
You guessed correctly! This is a female Cross Orbweaver, Araneus diadematus. She’s big because her many eggs developed internally to the size where they are ready to be fertilized and continue growth outside of her body in an egg sac. Yes, the cold dry weather is slowing her. They hunt by web, orbweavers don’t need to be fleet-footed. Many orbweavers have escaped my photography plans for them. They usually do it by dropping to the ground and quickly hiding, rather than running.
Very cool. Thanks for you help in identification and information!