Orb Spider Identification Help Needed

Lansdale, PA

I've got an orb spider in my arbor vitae that I've never seen before. The picture doesn't do it justice; the yellow is actually an iridescent green/gold color when the the little guy is in direct sunlight. The spider is less than an inch long, legs included, and returns to the same spot each day to spin a new web. I regularly get American garden orb spiders late in the summer, but they are much larger and have plump bodies rather than the flattened abdomen this spider has. Is this a juvenile or male, or is this a different kind of spider entirely? I live in Pennsylvania, twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia.

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Oakland, MD

orchard orbweaver. i think you're the 4th or 5th person to ask about this particular spider in the last month lol.

Charleston, SC

This one is the Orchard Orbweaver, Leucauge venusta. They are of the Long-jawed Orbweaver family Tetragnathidae and are known to build orb webs that are angled to near horizontal. They hang on the underside of that tilted web. I enjoy watching this colorful spider in SC.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/553/

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2010

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