CLOSED: Please ID this bright orange spider

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r250r Hope, IN Nov 10, 2009

I have never seen a spider like this before, and I'm curious what it is. I found it on an old board in my shed, in southern Indiana.

It is fluorescent orange, and has a pattern on its back. Looks like it is guarding its eggs.

Thanks

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Nov 10, 2009

This appears to be Araneus marmoreus, an orb weaving spider (family Araneidae) known as the marbled orb weaver - see http://tinyurl.com/lnsaqv for images. This species is highly variable in appearance. All orb weavers are harmless to humans.

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r250r Hope, IN Nov 10, 2009

Yeah, that's probably what it is. One of the pages I found said that their patterns sometimes look like faces, and this one's certainly did. The abdomen on this one is more flattened than that of the "garden spiders" (orb weavers) I am familiar with. Perhaps because she just laid eggs?

Initially, I thought that maybe the bright color meant it was poisonous, as it does in some tropical species. Then I read that widows and the recluse are the only poisonous spiders anywhere near here. And like you say, orb weavers are harmless.

Thank you

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