Photo of the Month

September, 2002

Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia)

Often seen in the fall of the year this rather large spider is sometimes referred to as the "Writing Spider" There is an old

wives tale that says if this spider sees someone at certain times that it will write their name in it's web and come get them later.

This is, of course, not true and probably came about as a result of the supporting structure that the spider spins in the center of the web

to support its large body which vaguely looks like letters in the web.

Learn more about this colorful spider

http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/web/Species/aspidergarden.html

http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesRECNUM.asp?recNum=IS0107

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/argiope/a._aurantia$narrative.html

http://www.uark.edu/depts/entomolo/museum/argiope.html

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