Veiled ventral view

Several Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) spiders were spotted during a photowalk with Michael Powell at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge (OBNWR), Prince William County, Virginia USA.

15 SEP 2020 | OBNWR | Black and Yellow Argiope (female)

This individual is a female, as indicated by her size. The preceding photo shows a ventral view of the spider, slightly obscured by the thin veil of her web. Contrast this ventral view with a recent blog post featuring a photo of the dorsal view of another A. aurantia.

Related Resource: Arachtober, a Flickr group that’s sure to make your spider senses tingle!

Copyright © 2020 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Black and Yellow Argiope (female)

While we’re doing that spider thing, here’s one that is seen commonly during late-summer/early-fall.

18 AUG 2020 | JMAWR | Black and Yellow Argiope (female)

A Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) spider was spotted during a photowalk with Michael Powell around Mulligan Pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge (JMAWR) in Fairfax County, Virginia USA. This individual is a female, as indicated by her size.

Females can be almost two inches long, while the males tend to be much smaller, rarely reaching even 1/4 of an inch in size. … The females live less than a year, dying by the first frosts. The males usually die right after breeding. Source Credit: Golden Garden Spider, by Alonso Abugattas, a.k.a, the Capital Naturalist.

Copyright © 2020 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Another Black and Yellow Argiope

Another Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) was spotted during a photowalk along Deephole Point Road at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA. A cicada was trapped in the spider web.

23 AUG 2018 | OBNWR | Black and Yellow Argiope (plus prey)

This post is the last part in a three-part series related to predator and prey at Occoquan Bay. The photos in all three posts were taken on the same day.

Copyright © 2018 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

More predator/prey at Occoquan Bay

“Eat or be eaten” is perhaps the most fundamental law of nature. Predator-prey relationships can change suddenly: one minute a predator, such as a damselfly, is hunting for its next meal; next minute the damselfly becomes the prey and is a meal for another predator, such as a spider, elsewhere in the food web.

23 AUG 2018 | OBNWR | Black and Yellow Argiope (plus prey)

A Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) was spotted during a photowalk along Deephole Point Road at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA. A damselfly, possibly a Big Bluet (Enallagma durum), was trapped in the spider web.

Copyright © 2018 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Predator and prey

A Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) was spotted during a photowalk along Deephole Point Road at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA. A female Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) is trapped in the spider web.

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Black and Yellow Argiope

“Eat or be eaten” is perhaps the most fundamental law of nature. Predator-prey relationships can change suddenly: one minute a predator, such as a dragonfly, is hunting for its next meal; next minute the dragonfly becomes the prey and is a meal for another predator, such as a spider, elsewhere in the food web.

Copyright © 2018 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Black and Yellow Argiope spiders

Two Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) spiders were spotted during a photowalk around Mulligan Pond, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge (JMAWR), Fairfax County, Virginia USA.

Larger (female?)

03 OCT 2016 | JMAWR | Black and Yellow Argiope

The zig-zag pattern in the center of the web is a characteristic field marker for Black and Yellow Argiope. Females (14-25 mm) are larger than males (5-6 mm), so it’s possible the first spider is a female and the last spider is a male.

Smaller (male?)

03 OCT 2016 | JMAWR | Black and Yellow Argiope

Copyright © 2017 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Almost perfect

Sometimes I get so focused on the subject of a photo that I don’t see the bigger picture. Although I recognize the problem, I can’t think of a simple solution.

04 OCT 2016 | Huntley Meadows Park | predators and prey

The preceding photo shows a Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) spider spotted at Huntley Meadows Park; a Common Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) is trapped in the spider web. I was so focused on getting a shot of the spider in a good position relative to the dragonfly that I never noticed the Chinese Mantid (Tenodera sinensis sinensis) on the right side of the photo. That is, until I returned home.

Notice that I clipped one of the mantid’s legs on the left side of its body (right edge of the photo). That’s the sort of thing that drives me crazy! If I had seen the mantid then I would have recomposed the shot in order to capture all three insects completely. Oh well, another hard lesson learned about wildlife photography.

Copyright © 2017 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Black and Yellow Argiope spider

The following photographs show a short time-series of the same Black and Yellow Argiope spider (Argiope aurantia) spotted during photowalks along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park on two days in September 2014.

Look closely at both photos. Notice the spider has “mummified” its prey. Experts say spiders wrap their prey in silk in order to store food for later consumption.

17 September 2014

Each photo shows the spider with a freshly-wrapped “snack pack.”

19 September 2014

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Black and Yellow Argiope spiders

The following photographs show two Black and Yellow Argiope spiders (Argiope aurantia) spotted during during photowalks through Huntley Meadows Park on 22 October 2013 and 04 September 2013.

Look closely at Photo 2 (of 2) in the following set of images. Notice the spider is “mummifying” its prey. Experts say spiders wrap their prey in silk in order to store food for later consumption.

22 October 2013. Photo 1.

22 October 2013. Photo 2.

The zig-zag pattern in the center of the spiderweb is a distinctive field mark for orb weaver spiders, as shown in the following photo.

Some species of orb weaver spiders decorate their webs. These web decorations are called stabilimenta. There have been many suggestions as to why spiders decorate their webs including added stability, visibility, or the opposite camouflage, to attract prey, excess silk or to attract mates. Recent research has indicated that stability & visibility, so that the web does not become damaged, may be the primary reason. Source Credit: Kim Phillips, Small Wonders.

04 September 2013.

Thanks to the following members of the BugGuide group on Facebook for their interesting comments about the feeding habits of spiders: Wildman Wayne Fidler; Cassie Novak; Jace Porter; and Harald Nowak.

Copyright © 2014 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.