What spider is this?

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tango5000 McKinney, TX Jul 20, 2010

I was mowing my lawn this morning and I found this spider hanging on a tree. I'd like to know what it is, whether it is poisonous or not and any other info that might be useful. Thanks.

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melody Benton, KY(Zone 7a) Jul 20, 2010

The Argiope aurantia or Writing Spider: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/69/

Beneficial and non-poisonous. Here's the article I wrote about here a few years ago: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/216/

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JohnTS71 San Antonio, TX(Zone 9a) Jul 20, 2010

I always called that the Banana Spider...whatever the name, im terrified of it. Had a bad experience with that spider once as a kid. It makes huge webs and ran into it running through the woods.

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jenbrink Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 20, 2010

I've always just called them "Garden Spiders" which I was taught as a young kid, they were harmless to humans and helped to protect the garden.

I wish I had more here than I have seen around in the past years.

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hemlady Melvindale, MI(Zone 5a) Jul 21, 2010

As a kid we also called them banana spiders because of their coloring. I don't see many of them any more. I had one in my garden last summer for about a week and then it just disappeared.

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crissyr Fayetteville, AR(Zone 7b) Jul 23, 2010

I think they all came down here :) I have at least 6 in my garden. Their fangs aren't strong enough to break human skin, they can't hurt you, I love these. I learned last year that these are actually females, the males die shortly after mating and they do the zig zaging in the web but they're very small and no real coloring, if I remember right they're like a light brown color.

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hemlady Melvindale, MI(Zone 5a) Jul 26, 2010

Are you sure about the fang thing because I had an uncle that claimed he was bit on the thumb by one of these. I know his thumb swelled to twice its size.

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melody Benton, KY(Zone 7a) Jul 26, 2010

They can bite from what I've read. They just seldom do.

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