spider in bush

[beckdg]

now that i got your attention, can anyone identify this? i am curious and it's about 8' from my front door.

these first 2 pics are the best i could do being the lense keeps fogging up and the camera wants to focus on the bush.




this is the bush it was found in, although probably useless it might help with identifying... never know.


south eastern pa... just north of philly in case it matters.

now, just to get it straight i am not afeared at all and will not let anyone kill it regardless. it is not a brown recluse or a black widow so i like him there. i was just wondering cause from what i can see he has very interesting markings and the front legs seem awesome. he looks like a killer so if he stays there much longer that will be his name.

i am not sure i will get a better pic, so even if you have a hunch or a clue i will be happy to investigate and let you know for sure. i just have no idea where to start and don't have time to look through everything from my area right now, so narrowing it down is my focus as of right now.

thank you very much in advance.

one last note he is about 3/4" - 1" stretched out as he sits in the pics as of right now and i am assuming he is fairly young as most spiders have been hatching in my area in big numbers over the last month.

[Pavel]

Originally Posted by beckdg

south eastern pa... just north of philly in case it matters.

now, just to get it straight i am not afeared at all and will not let anyone kill it regardless. it is not a brown recluse or a black widow so i like him there. i was just wondering cause from what i can see he has very interesting markings and the front legs seem awesome. he looks like a killer so if he stays there much longer that will be his name.

i am not sure i will get a better pic, so even if you have a hunch or a clue i will be happy to investigate and let you know for sure. i just have no idea where to start and don't have time to look through everything from my area right now, so narrowing it down is my focus as of right now.

thank you very much in advance.

one last note he is about 3/4" - 1" stretched out as he sits in the pics as of right now and i am assuming he is fairly young as most spiders have been hatching in my area in big numbers over the last month.

ALL spiders are killers. That is one of their charms. Heh heh.

Unfortunately there is no way to make an accurate identification from your pics ... they simply aren't clear and close enough.

However, I can tell you it is an orb weaver (as are all spiders that make such webs). If it happens to be the same type I commonly find up north here in MI, then it could very well be an adult. Here's a site that may help you ID:

Family Araneidae - Orb Weavers - BugGuide.Net

As just a guess, I would hazard perhaps a member of the Genus Micrathena or Genus Gea

[beckdg]

thanks for the link pavel... awesome. from what i see it's definitely a female.

gea is possible, but it seems to like to sit with the front legs spread forward together at a point... had been that way for about 6 days.

that and the color leads me to believe it may be acacesia.

if it is a micrathena, i'd say it is not finished growing and may have 1 more molt to adulthood as there doesn't seem to have any spikes on it's back.

it could also be a zygiella/parazygiella as the shape and coloring seem very similar and the longer front legs seem to be about right.

i will note that the web also seems similar to a zygiella as there seems to be a couple tunnels/traps around the outer edges of the orb. there also was what seems now to have been a male zygiella at the edge of (on) her web yesterday and she is now gone as is he.

the hard part is i was looking down at her and she seemed content with just hanging out upside down. because of this i never really got a clear view of her back straight on, but i've been watching her all week.

i would say zygiella if i had to come to a conclusion now and i must add that i suspected you'd be the person to give me the link i needed and i am very grateful, thank you very much. this was very interesting. do you have any idea of their breeding behavior... i was wondering if she might come back. anyway thanks again.

[Pavel]

Glad to be of service

Do keep in mind too that the link I provided presented only a sampling of the various body forms that can be found in those genera. When you start looking at all the species which a genus contains, then you get an even wider array of body types ... variations on the theme as it were. If you are able to later get a better pic (assuming the lil bugger returns of course) there are some sites I can send you to in which helpful folks will very likely be able to ID or at least really narrow down the focus of the search.

The zygeilla pics that I have seen seem to consistently show a 'smooth' abdomened spider. From your pic, yours looked .... 'lumpy' which was the reason for my initial guess.

[beckdg]

much appreciated. i think i will take you up on that offer if she(?) comes back. considering i could only get to see her underside, the jury's definitely still out on this one. i'd say all guesses are plausible at this time considering different traits and she wouldn't show me anything but her underside. i do see the spikes in the pics, but it didn't seem so prominent or almost even there at all with the naked eye. i was going by memory by the time i got that link, so that makes it a little harder as perceptions can be deceiving at that point. i should have snapped the pics a couple days prior, but curiosity hadn't quite got me yet.

thanks again, i might take some time tonight and do a little more searching.