I love spiders (arachnamania?). Any creature that can spin thread that is proportionately stronger than steel (and as yet unreplicable by man) has to be in my favourites list!
I gave her a boyfriend as a present a few years ago. Got their mating ritual on video. Very interesting. They extend their fangs fully during the process. Those suckers are at least 2 inches long. No babies sadly though. At least she got some. More than most captive spiders can say.
Hard to positively say from that angle but it appears to be a common Yellow Garden Spider. They make the most beautiful webs. Here is some scalped info on it:
BTW - It isn't poisonous other than like any other common spider. Only the Black Widow and Brown Recluse will give you any health troubles.
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Yellow Garden Spider
Argiope auranita Typical Orb Weavers, Family Araneidae
This distinctive spider is often noticed because of its large size and its habit of building webs in gardens and grassy areas near houses. It is most typically found in tall grasslands.
The small cephalothorax is tipped with silver hairs, and the slightly oval abdomen is patterned yellow (sometimes orange) and black. A black mid-stripe with four white spots in the center marks the top of the abdomen. The legs are black with yellow-orange stripes. The upper portion of the legs is more solidly colored orange-yellow. Females are much larger than males and can reach lengths of 19-28mm as compared to 5-8mm for males.
This spider can be found sitting head-down at its web's hub where a zig-zag silk band, the stabilimentum, extends vertically from the center. A variety of insects may fall prey to this spider, especially grasshoppers and katydids. Certain species of smaller spiders use yellow garden spider webs as their own and may feed on the tiny insects caught in the web.
Missouri distribution: presumed statewide in tall grasslands with tall herbaceous vegetation.
Thank you very much. Once I try it out and what not, I may consider getting the membership. It really isn't that much. I just need to be sure that photography is something that I am going to continue to enjoy.
Here's a Black Widow spider. I found this one under my doghouse and to get the pic I actually put the camera in Macro mode and finally worked up the courage to within about 3 or 4 inches away from it. The black body was about the size of a marble (maybe slightly smaller):
