"My ABC's Of Nature" Series-Letter "S" Continued-Part 36-WP101

"My ABC's of Nature" Series-Letter "S" Continued-Part 36-WP101

LETTER "S" CONTINUED

SPIDERS AND SPIDER WEBS

Arachnophobia...that is me! So you can imagine how difficult it was for me to take these photos and look at so many different spiders online while doing my research. OMG! I am getting the heebie-jeebies just doing this post. I have many photos and a lot of information so I will have to continue in another post. I have already posted Orb-Weaver Spiders and this is general information about all spiders and spider webs. Taking a deep breath before posting my first photo.

I found this spider at my neighbor's house. It was hanging around on the cord outside from her window air conditioner.

Spiders are Arachnids and fall under the class Chelicerata, and the order Araneae. There are 40,000 species worldwide and 3,400 species live in North America. Spiders come in different shapes, sizes and colors. All spiders have eight legs and their bodies have two pieces. Most have 6-8 eyes which are in the front part of the body. They don't have compound lenses like some insects do.

The spiders mouth parts are also in the front part of the body. Their jaws are called "the chelicerae" which are tipped with fangs and used to hold prey while the spider injects venom. Behind their jaws are the "Labiun" and "Labrum" which work together to put food into the spiders mouth. The spiders legs are also in the front part of their body. All spiders have eight legs. The first pair of legs look like tiny legs and are called "Pedipalps" which are more like antennae because they are used to sense objects. But there are some species that use their pedipalps to capture prey, feeding and shaping of their webs. Their pedipalps are also used in mating and are used to differentiate between males and females.

Looks like it is going to get its prey.

The back part of the body is the abdomen which is where most of the internal organs are located; reproductive organs, digestive tract and lungs. The abdomen also holds "spinnerets" which is their silk producing facilities for their webs.

I was in one of the fields that I went to frequently during my nature search and was taking photos of the sweet smelling honeysuckles. Out of the corner of my eye, I see this!

I was freaked out because it was so close to me and I didn't even know it. This is the Black and Yellow Garden Spider. This one is black and white because it is a juvenile. As it gets older, it will become black and yellow. It is the Argiope Aurantia species and are found throughout the United States and Canada. Even though this spider was sitting in the middle of its web, I didn't think it was an orb-weaver because the abdomen was not as round as the orb-weaver I posted earlier in the Letter "O" post. Also, when I looked at the web, I could only see part of it so I wasn't certain that it was an orb-weaver web. However, I found through my research that Garden Spiders are in the family Araneidae; known as Orb-Weaver Spiders.

Most are black and yellow, however; there can be color variations. Other common names for this spider are: Corn Spider, Writing Spider and Zipper Spider.
You can see these garden spiders during the summer and during the day light hours, because that is when they hunt their prey. They eat flies, moths, mosquitos, wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers.

Females are 3-4 times larger than males and have yellowish or reddish legs at the base that fade to black. Males have brown legs with faded black bands. And sometimes, there are no markings on the legs. Female garden spiders are colorful and the males appear a shade two paler than the female. Their webs are circular and have a "z" shaped pattern running vertically through the center which is called the "stabilimentum."

Females are the ones who are usually sitting in the middle of the web. The males are too busy looking for mates. She sits with her head downwards and will often hold her legs together; making her look like she only has four legs instead of eight. She lays her eggs in a papery brown sac that is attached to one side of her web and then she dies in the fall when the cold weather hits. The eggs stay in sac over winter and will hatch in the Spring.

For all of you spider lovers...be sure to go to @bullionstackers blog and look at his incredible close-up photos of his pet Wolf Spider "WolfiE."

The letter "S" with Spiders and Spider Webs will continue in my next post. Thanks for looking!

Information Source: livescience.com, wikihow.com, insectidentification.org

Image Source: 100% own work.