I clean basements at an apartment complex and saw this spider. Does anyone know what this is or if it is dangerous in any way? I've never seen a spider that looked anything like this. It's legs have those black and tannish stripes like a tarantula has and it's body almost looks like ladybug.
This message was edited Jan 18, 2011 11:51 PM
Could it be a tick?
This is an orb weaving spider (family Araneidae) in the genus Araneus; likely either the marbled orb weaver, Araneus marmoreus (see http://tinyurl.com/ybclwsj for an example) or the shamrock orb weaver, Araneus trifolium (see http://tinyurl.com/4spomqv for an example. Both species show a great deal of individual variation in color pattern, if you do a Google image search on either name, you will see many examples. All orb weavers are harmless to humans.
