On a recent trip to Cedar Key, I stopped to take some wildflower photos on the roadside and among them was this cool looking orb weaver spider. I knew it was an orb weaver since it was in the process of spinning a typical orb weaver wheel shaped web. It wasn’t a species I recognized, though. It had a bunch of spikes on the back of it’s abdomen like a spiny orb weaver, but the coloring was all wrong, and there were way more spikes. It turned out to be a starbellied orb weaver (Acanthepeira stellata). It’s actually a very common spider that can be found in all 50 states here in the US, in southeastern Canada, and Mexico. It tends to be shy, though, and it’s nocturnal, so many people never see it.

Starbellied orb weavers typically live in grassy areas where there is plenty of protection from the grasses and lots of flying insects to eat. They don’t generally like overgrown areas, though, so it’s most common to find them in prairies and meadows. Although they can be found all over the United States, they are most commonly seen on the eastern and western coasts in fairly moist habitats. The females tend to be a bit larger than the males, and are easily distinguished from them by the much larger abdomen when compared to the rest of the body. As with many orb weavers, the females spin the webs and the males stay on their outskirts. As you can see from the photo above, the top of the abdomen (the whole abdomen is called the belly in spiders) has 10-12 spikes, which have given this spider it’s name. It’s difficult to see in the image, but the first spikes on either side even have a small eye!

These spiders are very docile towards people and very rarely bite. Even when feeling threatened their usual response is to pull their legs in towards the body, fall to the ground on their backs, and play dead. This is another reason that many people never notice them. Like most spiders, they eat large numbers of flies, gnats, wasps, and other small flying insects, making them great to have hanging around in your garden. They act as free, non chemical pest control and you’ll probably never even notice them. Sounds like a perfect garden companion to me!