Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Orb Weaver Spiderlings


I came across this tiny yellow cluster on my back porch and thought it was a mass of eggs.  But a light touch sent the "eggs" scurrying in all directions and I realized these little beauties were spiderlings.  A moment later, they ran back to their original site and huddled together again.


These tiny yellow dots with black bottoms are Cross Orb Weaver (Araneus diadematus) spiderlings. 

I took this photo of an adult weaver spider in August 2009 in the same location where the babies were found so perhaps this is a relative (mom?).  The females lay their yellow cocoons filled with eggs (up to 900!) in September, so these spiderlings may very well be hers.


After last week's soaking rain, the spiderlings had dispersed, but a day later I found them gathered together in a new location.  They had taken up residence in the plant hanger attached to the porch railing.  I found their drive to cluster together very endearing.  Some of the babies had woven silky runners between the hanger and nearby bushes and were venturing out on their own.  Within a couple of days, they had all gone their separate ways.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you. I have some here in Florida. They will be the orb weavers that look like little crabs and are brightly colored. The adults hang out in my garden all the time but I never dreamed they'd really be babies until I saw your post.

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  2. That's kinda cute!

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  3. I have just found 100's on my gate in London. Thanks for the info!

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  4. Sure... kinda cute until they're going their separate ways... in your house! :\

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  5. i found lots of these on my car, in somerset UK

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  6. I seen a huge amount of those. I thought they were a piece of moss. Without thinking I took a bug zapper to them :-(

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  7. I have two clusters of these spiderlings in my dog's pen's. Are they harmfull to animals?

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