Our Spiny-Backed Orb Weavers

About this time last year, I began noticing brilliant webs with crab-like spiders at their centers.

Because they appeared along with the second appearance of my hummingbirds (more on those later), they caught me at a time when I was particularly curious about nature.

And so I discovered the Spiny-Backed Orb Weaver, akin to the barn orb-weaver spider of Charlotte's Web.

Mine are known as garden orb weavers, and they are mostly a brilliant red orange in color.

Uniformly, my spiders connect primary lines to three fixed objects. Two strands affix to the points (one coming, one going, I assume), and in the center they spin a perfectly round segmented web, comprised of 20 to 30 radii (yes, I've counted them... again with the life!), measuring measuring between 14" and 18" out to out.

According to Aggie horticulturists (Gig 'Em, Ags!), these spiders are considered beneficials in the garden, because they prey upon small garden pests, including mosquitoes.


The more I've learned, the more I've come to really appreciate the species. For instance, it is the female of the species that spins the intricate webs, while the male hangs from a single strand... waiting, I assume, for the female to deliver dinner.

While I don't condone those roles, I applaud the ambition and fastidious work of the female.

I'm told that these gals spin a new web each evening, and that's likely true, when need be. I've gone to great lengths to preserve their webs... including the relocation of a primary point connection. On the rare occasion when a web is destroyed, however, I've noticed a new web somewhere else.

Photos are best in the morning sun. I'll be home again tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for better photos?