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Photo#1916272
Possible Cat-Faced Orb Weaver In Bernalillo, NM - Araneus

Possible Cat-Faced Orb Weaver In Bernalillo, NM - Araneus
Bernalillo, Sandoval County, New Mexico, USA
June 7, 2020
Size: Body approximately 1 inch
Saw this spider on the Garden House (on a June morning 6/7/2020 at 9:00 a.m.) in the shadows under the eaves. The look of a Jack-o-Lantern on her back made me laugh out loud. Her abdomen was very plump and round and I thought perhaps she was full of eggs. I was enchanted by the beautiful orb web, having mainly only seen the sticky, random messes made by Black Widows since moving out West. With this year's astronomical crop of Elm Seed Beetles, she had plenty to feed on ... if she had a taste for the little crunchy things. We had terrible wind and rain around that time and her successive re-builds of her orb were not as symmetrical and perfect as the original creation, as if she grew weary of trying to recreate the first work of art. Is this a Cat-Faced Orb Weaver?

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Araneus
Araneus illaudatus is also a possibility.

 
Araneus gemmoides or Araneus illaudatus?
In the next weeks, we found 5 or 6 spiders in our backyard, who all seemed to have appeared overnight – and each to have woven a stunning orb. We assumed these were all related - I hadn't seen an orb weaver since moving here, 7 years ago. I'll see if I can attach a photo of one.

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