Araneus Spiders - Orbweavers
The family divides into a couple of different genera (or groups), the largest being the genus Araneus.
Because of their size, the size of their web and their affinity for living in residential settings, many people refer to araneus spiders as garden spiders, without knowing their taxonomic group.
Physically, araneus spiders generally have a round abdomen, and when seen from a side view, the abdomen has spikes or points at the top.
Barn spiders, marbled orbweaves and the giant lichen orbweavver (pictured above) are examples of species in the genus. They spin their webs in lawns, barns, gardens and fields around the United States.
Often the webs are built in open spaces, and the odds are that at some time in most peoples' lives, they receive a body or head full of web when they unintentionally walk through it.
The spider in the picture on the left, Araneus diadematus, is often called a garden spider or cross spider.
It is a common species in European gardens that found its way to gardens in the United States. It gets its nickname from the white cross on the back of the abdomen.
The bottom picture might be an araneus-nordmanni, generally characterized by the black marks on the body. However, many of the pictures of araneus-nordmanni show additional white spots on the dark abdomen patch, so the identificaiton is tentative.
© 2005-2008 Patricia A. Michaels