In my daily search for something interesting to photograph, I came across this orb weaver, Argiope trifasciata, tucked in amongst the winter jasmine. I love the way her coloring mimics the jasmine and background.
There is apparently much debate as to what the zigzag pattern in her web is all about. It is called a stabilimentum because it was first thought to add stability to the web.
For some reason, skinny-legged spiders bother me more than fuzzy-legged spiders. I am going to blame it on the black widow spiders from my childhood that I always had to be watchful for.
I saw a video on National Geographic, where they studied these decorations and they came to the conclusion that the web attracted more insects in it had decorations like this. I also saw arecent phot where the spider used them to camouflage its presence. Cool image.
