gee, it looks like that to me, too! i thought it was a pregnant barn spider (of which we have zillions). I know. Don't laugh.

the Balabans. However, I'm not as interested in this spider as I am in your 'barn spider'. If you really do have barn spiders, Araneus cavaticus, we'd like to see some good images of those.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/121411

i have lots more, too, because they fascinate me.
Thank you for asking!

are any of them still around in October? It looks like they are a fairly early species. This coming summer maybe you could get a really nice ventral shot and a close-up of the epigyne? I think this one is the best we have so far


A few more dorsal shots without distracting backgrounds would be great as well. It seems like they must be fairly hard to photograph from the images I see in the guide. Do they usually make their webs quite high?

yes, under the eaves, or the corners of garage, barn, porch doors and stoops, but i've been known to get ladders up. at night they drop down on you if you go into garage. they also live under the porch roofs. and I will gladly take any assignment. they live right until hard frost, which is in september here. then they just disappear, literally. do you have any idea where they go? they don't just die, do they?

i am posting your assignment to my calendar for next season. thank you for the interest.

the others I have are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meeyauw/sets/72157600481260656/with/553299110/

i know i have misidentified some hairy spiders as barn spiders. but tonight I think i have it straight.

btw: photographing spiders has helped me overcome a phobia that developed as an adult from severe, anaphylactic spider bites. Now they fascinate me. The power of a camera, huh.

oh
and i had a bunch of barn spiders that camped out over a whiteface hornet nest and picked the wasps off as they left the hive in 2007 until a nor'easter knocked the hive down in september.

Ok, so I take that assignment back from you. It is very rare for a person to have reactions to spider bites, but since you have that rare affliction I would rather you not mess with any spiders at my request! I'll check out your flickr shots.... see you on flickr.

no no no
the DOCTORS said spider, but where are the recluse spiders in new england woods? I swear to god it was mosquito bite that went horribly wrong. but i do spiders all the time now. so no, i'm doing it!

you aren't horribly allergic. I couldn't have that hanging over my head! =]

well, even before i knew you i was going to do it anyhow and i never let them touch me because i am ignorant enough to think they bite (and somebody told me they all bite)

but anyhow: what macro lens do you use? Your work is awesome and I want to be as good as you.

I wouldn't worry too much about them biting -- if you reach down and try to pick one up like a jelly bean, then it will probably try to bite you, but otherwise they will simply try to crawl/drop away, even if walking on your hand.

As to what happens in winter. I'm not certain, but I believe that most large orb weavers can overwinter and live through a second summer. But the very large ones you see are most likely all "seniors" and already in their last season. The orb weavers I've observed (Araneus diadematus) seem to "get old", slow down and then eventually die, more or less like we do -- assuming that a predator, parasitic wasp, or disease doesn't get them first.

Follow-up, after looking at Dondale & Redner (2003). They write that "with some exceptions" Araneus species overwinter as an egg; they mature and reproduce in late summer and early autumn. This also appears to apply to A. marmoreus. So perhaps they have only one summer season as adults.

I forgot to answer that question. Yes nearly all large Araneus orb-weavers I've come across die in the fall/winter. The ones that sometimes overwinter are the little juveniles.

I use a Canon Rebel combined with a 100mm macro lens. I love that macro lens! I also have a macro ring flash, which helps a lot in this dark and rainy area I live in.

thanks for the info. some years i think they survive the winter because they start bigger than most of the others in the spring and the webs are in the exact same place. but other years they seem to all be the same age.

is that a canon 100mm?

100mm.