This guy and another just like him have taken over my balcony with two giant webs. Trying to figure out what kind they are and whether or not they're poisonous. Any ideas? If it helps any, I'm in Virginia.
@mikehamm The body itself (not including the legs) is probably...maybe 3 inches or so long? Something like that. I would go try to get a better look, but in doing my research to try to figure out what kind they are, I came across one that can jump 40 times its body length. Yeah, if I had seen that this morning, that picture never would have been taken. I hate spiders!
Looks like one of the many "orb weaving" spiders. They are not poisonous.
According to Virginia Tech you only have two poisonous spiders in Virginia. The first is the Black Widow. The second only is found on the western edges of the state, the Brown Recluse. This is not either one of those spiders.
@lstasel Orb weaver was the only one I could come up with, too, but I couldn't find a picture that looked exactly like this guy so I wasn't sure. There's a second kind out there as well that I took a picture of yesterday and pretty positively identified as an Orchard spider. Just wasn't too sure on this one. Thanks! :)
@istacy1011 Stacy, a lot of spiders that spin webs are classed as orb weavers so it is really difficult to identify the species. You have one in Virginia that is called a barn spider. Some of the pictures looked similar but not quite right.
I think they use the term to define spiders that weave very large webs. The one I had outside last week wove a 3' web in 24 hours.
@meisen325 Yep, in good ol' VA. They have been all over the past couple months! @lstasel Oh, gotcha. Yeah, I'm totally uneducated on spiders other than the knowledge that I do NOT like them, lol! It is disturbing how quickly they can weave their webs. And that whatever that spider's eating? I had just been out there taking pictures of the other one like him just a few minutes before and nothing was in this one's web. I came back when I was getting ready to leave for work and saw that not only had something landed in the web, but that the spider had already completely wrapped it up and was going in for the kill. YUCK!
@redpants Good to know! I plan to keep my distance from now on. I got nervous enough trying to get close enough for this picture. I'm done now. No more! Hopefully he will be gotten rid of this weekend.
Orb weaver bodies are for the most part less than an inch though. I'm guessing this is a black and yellow garden spider which is one orb weaver that can be a bit over an inch according to this: http://www.ehow.com/info_8415276_biggest-spiders-virginia.html
might be the same type. Generically they just get called Garden Orb Weavers. Depending on how they are holding themselves, they can look quite different. I have 4 who live here with me, and I've gotten so used to them that when I do brush their webs, I apologize. Just keep taking pictures of them and you'll eventually get over that feeling of ookieness. I live down in Hampton, don't know how close you are to there. I have never been bitten by an orb weaver, and I've walked blindly through their webs.
@istacy1011@dmariewms - Not the same... Garden Orbs will consume their web each morning and rebuild each night, whereas the top one looks similar to our Golden Orb which will leave the web out all season... There are many times of Orb Weavers which both of these spiders are from.
@bobfoto It looks like Neoscona crucifera. Most of the genus has highly variable color patterns so a definitive ID would require having the specimen in hand( figuratively not literally) and access to good keys and a microscope. They are Orb Weavers and are rather innocuous in regards to biting, I've walked through webs and had them crawling on me but never attempt to bite. Even when I accidentally put my hand on one, she just dropped to,the ground when I took my hand away. I enjoyed watching one build small webs on my front porch last year, seems there was so much food coming into the porch light she adjusted the size of her web accordingly. Nice shot.
@robv - The Golden Orb Weaver which lives in my yard are certainly passive creatures, but I hear, if you poke one enough they will bite, but it certainly is a last defence, and I have never experienced it. They will get up into a fairly aggressive pose if you get close but it is all bluff.
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About how big are these spiders?
According to Virginia Tech you only have two poisonous spiders in Virginia. The first is the Black Widow. The second only is found on the western edges of the state, the Brown Recluse. This is not either one of those spiders.
I think they use the term to define spiders that weave very large webs. The one I had outside last week wove a 3' web in 24 hours.
@lstasel Oh, gotcha. Yeah, I'm totally uneducated on spiders other than the knowledge that I do NOT like them, lol! It is disturbing how quickly they can weave their webs. And that whatever that spider's eating? I had just been out there taking pictures of the other one like him just a few minutes before and nothing was in this one's web. I came back when I was getting ready to leave for work and saw that not only had something landed in the web, but that the spider had already completely wrapped it up and was going in for the kill. YUCK!
But there are always exceptions to all rules....
@robv is good for this?