Hard work pays off - Spider on the night shift, part 2

 This evening Steve and I did a hike at Highbanks Metro park. The main motivation was to try out my new hiking boots before I head to South Africa next week. The good news is that the boots fit well and I had no hotspots or other issues after a three mile hike.

The other good news is that our friend, the orb weaver spider, had made a new web in the same spot as last night. This time the dogs stayed inside while I went to fetch my camera gear. I was able to make a photo without worrying about whether the dogs would snap one of the anchor lines. This spider is about two inches long (including the legs).

I still do not know the name of the species, but she's beautiful. I hate to admit it, but when I looked at her through the macro lens, my first thoughts were of king crab legs.....

Update: 18 Aug 2013 - This is Neoscona crucifera, the Variable Orbweaver. Ohio Department of Natural Resources has a pdf on the common spiders of Ohio, which gives a lot of natural history about the spiders we most often see in the state.  For example, orbweaver spiders spin a new web every day. The sticky strands are the spiral ones. The spider is nocturnal and eats mostly moths. The web is gone by morning, and the spider eats the strands (to recycle the proteins in the silk), and then hides during the day.  

Spider on the night shift

Steve and I went to the Shamrock Club session for a little while tonight (we left early, but that's another story altogether). When we came home, the dogs rushed out the back door to play in the yard. They like to hunt worms at night, but I wanted them to come into the house. I took the big flashlight and searched the back yard to find out where they had gone. The light caught this spider hard at work weaving its web.

I've no idea what species it is, but by the web it was making, it's probably an orb weaver spider.

I watched it working this rather large web for a bit before getting the camera out. The spider was about 2 inches in diameter, including the legs.

I'm pretty amazed at how hairy the spider is in close view. The dogs snagged one of the anchor lines and it immediately scrambled toward the pole it was working from and huddled in a defensive posture.