I found a large Web in my yard with this Spider walking around on it. He didn't seem scared and I was able to get pretty close to take these pictures.
I am thinking Brown Widow, but the design isn't an hourglass and I am not an expert , it was at least 1" long not including the legs.
Any Ideas?
This message was edited Sep 7, 2008 8:46 PM
I have better quality pictures of this Spider if needed
This is a harmless (to humans) orb-weaving spider (family Araneidae), possibly in the genus Araneus. This is a very large family, and many of the species show considerable individual variation in color pattern - see http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/orb_weavers_genus_araneus for some examples.
I think the hourglass of the Brown Widow is on the spider's back, not the underside. You're probably looking at the silk producing parts of the spider. As Suunto says, these orb weavers are harmless to humans, but they are definitely a gardener's ally!
See http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/IPM/BrownWidow.htm for some good images and information on the brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus).
