The friendly garden spider

Arachnophobia. It’s a psychological condition as well as a great, cheesy thriller of a movie starring Jeff Daniels. Daniels, who’s character is burdened with arachnophobia (the technical term for “fear of spiders”) must face down his terror to battle deadly invasive spiders. He probably wasn’t cured of his psychological terror after his experience. Happily, while black widow spiders and brown recluse spiders (which have venom that can be toxic to humans, though rarely resulting in severe injury), most of our spiders are disinclined to bite. Some can be considered truly captivating. Perhaps by observing spiders in their habitat and understanding their role in the ecosystem we can begin to lose that instinctive fear many people have of spiders.

Part of the problem with spiders is their web. It is just unpleasant to unexpectedly walk into a spider web (and wonder where the spider is?). However, there are several spiders that live a quiet existence on flowers and vegetation in the garden without sticky spiderwebs, and can be easily observed in order to get better acquainted.

The green lynx spider, so named for its color and cat-like reflexes, is commonly found in the flower or vegetable garden. A couple of years ago I was growing a lot of gomphrena (a bushy annual with a clover-like flower). Green lynx spiders apparently loved that habitat and several of them made themselves right at home. I had the chance to closely observe them over the summer. Green lynx spiders are a lovely light green, almost translucent, with faint markings and hairy legs. They lurk near the flower ready to pounce on and overwhelm a hapless insect visiting the flower. As the season wears on, the mated female will lay up to 200 eggs, around which she builds a protective egg sac. She guards the egg sac until the babies hatch. While lynx spiders will eat beneficial insects like honey bees or butterflies, research has shown they’re very significant predators of pest insects in crops such as cotton and soybeans, consuming numbers of caterpillar pests.

Crab spiders also lie in wait on a flower for their victim to fly into their reach. Typically smaller than a lynx spider, the crab spider, of which there are numerous species, tend to have a bulbous abdomen and wide splayed legs that give them an appearance similar to a crab. Their colors range from cream, yellow, or brown. Some species may even adjust their own color to match the flower to hide better. They are quite good at hiding so I enjoy trying to spy them on a flower.

Now that we’ve gotten to know the friendly flower spiders, let’s consider larger, web weaving spiders, which typically show up in our gardens in late summer. The yellow garden spider (which is the common name of Argiope aurantia) is easily spotted: a large spider (body up to 1”) with a striking bright yellow, black and white abdomen, she makes a magnificent web amongst the plants, which usually has a heavy zig zag pattern down the middle. Males are much less colorful, and about ¼ the size of the female.

Golden Silk Orbweavers have a similar appearance to the yellow garden spider. The abdomen is more slender, however, and while yellow, not the neon yellow of the garden spider. The female may have a body of up to 2”, so taking her long legs into account, quite a large spider! They are sometimes called “banana spiders”. They have distinct black “bands” on their legs.

Another species in the orbweaver group is the spinybacked orbweaver. Sometimes also called a crab spider, it is very different from the web-less flower crab spider described above. The spinybacked orbweaver has a broad abdomen, like a crab, often with black, white or red markings, adorned with spikes (if a female) and quite ferocious looking. When walking through the yard or open woods, this species is the one most likely to be encountered with a web in the face. Like the other orbweavers, it is basically harmless to humans, other than the annoyance factor, preying primarily on flies, moths, and beetles.

While spiders have a creepy reputation, these species are beautiful insects and not aggressive towards humans. If a bite should accidentally occur, it is no more venomous to humans than a honey bee sting. Garden spiders play an important role in the ecosystem. They prey upon many insect pests, and while they may also consume beneficial insects such as butterflies or honey bees, they have an important role in keeping the ecosystem in balance. They are, on occasion, a meal themselves for other predators, such as mud dauber wasps. Keep an eye out for them on your next stroll through the garden, and get to know them. Just watch out for spiderwebs in the face.