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Photo#1015279
Tiny Orb Weaver - Metepeira - female

Tiny Orb Weaver - Metepeira - Female
South Coast Botanic Gardens, Los Angeles County, California, USA
October 30, 2014
Size: About 5mm (body and head)
This spider made a vertical orb web, and used a drag line from a hidden location off web, but it doesn't seem to match the i.d. for a Hyptiotes gertschi. The legs aren't feathery, and it held slight tension on the gathered strands with only two legs - not four, as I saw in pics of H. gertschi. Although it uses camouflage, I know it's not a trashline spider (I have pics of those). The location for hiding isn't central to the web, and the spider made a type of cubby-hole to hide in rather than hide in plain sight. A full body shot does show this is a female. I included this image first because it shows web construction (this spider is hiding just under a thin sheet of web). The web was built in a bush about waist height at the Botanic Gardens, and it was quite neat. As soon as prey landed in the web, it was collected and removed to the off-orb cubby.

Images of this individual: tag all
Tiny Orb Weaver - Metepeira - female Tiny Orb Weaver - Metepeira - female Tiny Orb Weaver - Metepeira - female

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Metepeira

 
Thanks!
Thanks for the i.d. find. I just wasn't finding her at all!

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