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| Do you notice something different about the legs of this spider? |
On one of my recent walks, I decided to take the path toward the bridge. As I approached, I just happened to look to my left where I found this black and yellow garden spider. As it sat perfectly still in the center of its web, I took out my cell phone and snapped a few pictures.
As soon as I got home, I couldn’t wait to upload my pictures and get a closer look. All kinds of questions ran through my head. What is the “real” name of this spider? Is it a male or female? Why do these spiders have a zig-zag in their webs?
I ended up finding a great *website with all of the answers to my questions and so much more! As it turns out, this garden spider is called an Argiope and it is a female. She is larger than her male counterpart and is much more colorful. She will likely lay an egg sac containing hundreds of eggs, and then she will die by the first hard frost. Her eggs will hatch soon, but the baby spiders will stay dormant until spring when the emerge from the egg sac.
Scientists seem to have several theories on the zig-zag pattern in the center of the web. Some believe it is to make the web more visible to birds so they don’t accidentally fly into the web destroying it. What do you think it could be for?
*for more info, visit http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Argiope_aurantia/
