Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: Strange spider found on porch ceiling..., 1 by rside2005

rside2005 wrote:
I have never seen a spider like this...it almost looks like it has a "cape" on its back. This "cape" has a yellow marking on it, and the spider is a little bit smaller than the face of a penny. When my fiancee got close enough to take the picture (I definately wasnt getting my hand this close to it, lol) he said it looked like "a mean smiley face". Who knows, but I'm really interested in finding out what kind of spider this could be. I live about 50 miles from central West Virginia if it helps in deciphering the name of this spider.
This was the clearest picture he could get of it and the flash ALMOST washed it out. I darkened it just a little so it didn't look so washed out, the only thing that got messed up a little was the yellow on its back.
Thanks!

This message was edited Aug 13, 2010 7:57 PM