Thursday, September 24, 2009

Arrowhead Spider (Verrucosa arenata)

The Arrowhead Spider (Verrucosa arenata) is a small orbweaver spider. I love these spiders but I bet they hate me. They build webs that straddle the path down to the creek. Unfortunately I don’t see the webs and walk into them, ripping them apart. I hate to destroy them; the spiders must have expended so much energy building. Often when I break the web, the spider is left dangling from the brim of my hat. It’s a strange feeling to suddenly see a spider dangling in front of ones face. Makes for some great photo ops to have them stay with me rather than running up their webs to safety. I deposited this one on a leaf.

Usually the spider presents its underside…

Occasionally, it’s possible to get a nice photo of the upper side.

Identification resource:
- Bug Guide: Arrowhead spider (Verrucosa arenata) [Male] [Female]
Click on an image to view a larger image

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