THAT SPIDER: How big is big?

Big enough to scare the bejesus out of you!

Today is part 2 of our story of the black and yellow arigobe
spider which we had erroneously described as “a cute little
creature” after receiving a photograph of one perched on a reader’s
black-eyed Susan.

Carl Milks of Bradford, whose first experience with one of these
spiders was last year in the dark, recalls “it was huge.” After the
initial shock, though, he captured it in a jar for further
examination and research.

Its abdomen was a bit smaller than his thumb, and his research
showed a male’s body is 5-8 millimeters across while a female’s is
a much larger 19-29 mm.

To put that in perspective, Kim Van Horn of Austin cites her
research in reporting that, “with the legspan, some individuals may
cover much of the surface of one’s palm.”

If the spider’s size isn’t impressive enough, consider that
their webs are two feet in diameter. Citing his sources, Carl tells
us that, every day, the spider “eats” the interior of the web and
builds it anew with fresh silk every morning.

Since this is a family newspaper, we’ll skip the mating ritual.
Suffice it to say, the female lays her eggs at night, and rolls
them into a ball which she suspends on her intricate web – where
she can keep an eye (or two?) on them.

At the time of about the first hard frost, the mother spider
dies and the eggs become like tiny pieces of dust and are blown
into the wind.

This spider has many defenders, it seems.

As Kim writes, “Readers, this spider is not poisonous to us! It
is essentially harmless, despite its size. As I hike through
neighboring woods during the fall, I frequently run into their
large webs, and they (the spiders) often are on my head or chest.
In my experience, they seem to want to get off of me as fast as I
want to get them off! Remember, that despite their fearsome
appearance, they help rid us of lots of pesky insects!”

Jamie J. Moran of Coudersport also has kudos for our spider: “I
have seen these many times myself in the past. They also get rid of
other pesty insects from the garden, which is where I saw my first
orb weaver, years ago over to Smethport.”