This amazing grey spider with a giant white racing stripe showed up on my balcony this morning. The thing is huge - body itself is probably 1/2-3/4 of an inch. No elaborate web, just tucked away in an small web nest. Anyone have an idea what he/she might be?
This looks like a tree spider in the family Araneidae; possibly Araneus gemma. See http://tinyurl.com/66anhv and http://bugguide.net/node/view/66624/bgpage for more images. These type of orb weavers do get impressively large in size, but are nonetheless harmless to humans.
That definitely looks like it - thanks for your help!
