Spined micrathena for July in PA - Micrathena gracilis - BugGuide.Net

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Orb Weavers (Araneidae) » Micrathena » Spined Micrathena (Micrathena gracilis)

Photo#304407

Copyright © 2009 Abigail Parker

Spined micrathena for July in PA - Micrathena gracilis -

Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
July 13, 2009
Size: ~12 mm, 0.5 inch

Original ID Request text: Spiky black spider that lives on a large web spun between tall plants in my community garden. It's freaking everybody else out. Please help w/ ID, I need to prove it's harmless before someone kills it!

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Contributed by Abigail Parker on 15 July, 2009 - 10:39am
Last updated 27 July, 2009 - 3:15pm

Spined micrathena

Thank you for posting this. I looked this up because I just barely missed walking thru a Spined micrathena web stretched across a walking path in my woods. It's just like your picture. She climbed to a plant full of black dead flower blossoms that looked like her.

… porter, 31 July, 2017 - 1:04pm

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Micrathena gracilis - Spined Micrathena

in the guide here.
perfectly harmless unless you're a small pesky bug!

… john and jane balaban, 15 July, 2009 - 10:54am

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Thanks! Now to convince people...

There's a bulletin board in the garden, I'll print out a page about M. gracilis and stick it up there. And maybe put up a sign under the web, like people have to identify their plots - "Radishes," "Turnips," "Harmless Spider..."

… Abigail Parker, 15 July, 2009 - 11:30am

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All orb weavers (at the very least)

All orb weavers in North America are harmless.

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 15 July, 2009 - 3:30pm

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Yup, just spreading the word

No one minds the big yellow orb weavers with round abdomens, this spiky black spider just didn't look like one. As long as I can say "Just an orb weaver!" no one will harass it.

Getting city dwellers not to freak out over *any* creature that's not on a leash or in a zoo is a gradual process...

… Abigail Parker, 15 July, 2009 - 4:04pm

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Re: getting city dwellers...

Re: getting city dwellers...

Ha, I like your "peas, carrots, harmless spider..." idea.

-K

… Kevin Pfeiffer, 16 July, 2009 - 1:48am

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