Nasty

What state? How big was it?

It was in eastern PA at Windsor Furnace - not far from the Pinnacle. The body was about an inch and a half with the legs a little longer.

Let me know if you need a hiking buddy when you are in the eastern part of pa. Our goal is to do NY next year on a 5 day trip and some day hikes from Route 309 to NJ here in PA and maybe that little part in WV next year as well.

We used to call those Garden Spiders in my younger days. Throw a grasshopper on the web and watch the show. The middle of the web always had a zig-zag design.

I almost walked into something about this big that was building its web right across the trail. It was by far the biggest spider I had seen in the wild. It took me three swipes of my poles to move the web off to the side (another good reason for using poles!).

Someone smarter than me says it is a Female Black & Yellow Argiope (argiope aurantia).

So does that mean "take me to your leader - I'm here to conquer the earth" or squash me, I'm an insignificant bug? We got pretty close. My wife actually had her hand touching the web about 2 inches from the monster in question.

By the way...tonight we are going to see the new Warren Miller Ski movie - Journey at Northampton Community College while it's snowing 2-4 inches! Nice mood setting!! Check it out at www.warrenmiller.com .

Thanks,

AG

"So does that mean "take me to your leader - I'm here to conquer the earth" or squash me, I'm an insignificant bug? We got pretty close. My wife actually had her hand touching the web about 2 inches from the monster in question."

According to my arachnophile source, this fearsome looking critter is utterly harmless to humans. However, it evidently wraps prey in a solid cocoon of webbing.

I didn't know what kind of spider it was but we have those spiders building on our porch all the time. I started to sweep it down last summer and noticed the web was literally full of mosquitos that had been captured. I left the web in tact the rest of the summer as a mosquito deterrent! Very good detail in the photo. Good job.

Re: Nasty
Argiope aurantia - Black and Yellow Garden Spider


http://www.cirrusimage.com/spider_argiope_aurantia.htm

Absolutely beautiful