Web Designer

Based off the title, you may have been expecting to see a slouched figure at a computer, sporting, perhaps, a gel-enhanced head of spiky hair and a screen-printed tee, but no. Instead I present to you a web designer of a different sort--a web designer in its most original meaning. The one I'm about to show you, though, does have some spikes of her own, indeed.


This is a type of orb spider--a spined micrathena. Her remarkably symmetrical web and her strong work ethic entranced me and pulled me over like gravity. I, too, could be trapped in her web if I'm not careful.

Back in August of 2007 while we hiked in a state park in Illinois, we came across this busy spider. I snapped away, completely enthralled with her beautiful work and her ability to make something so much larger than herself so intricately and so perfect. Captivated and almost as busy as she, I noticed that there was something unproportionally large on her back. Was she carrying her wrapped up prey while she wove her web? What could it be? I've assumed all along that she was hauling something with her, or perhaps a parasite was using her as a life source.

Whatever was on her back, it didn't seem to be slowing her down, but it certainly did weigh her down.

As we rediscovered these pictures, we realized that the bulbous black "attachment" was really a part of the spider and in no way was a parasite or any sort of hoarding behavior of her food. It was the spider's HUGE, spiny abdomen.

This discovery, nearly three years later, led to a flurry of research! If you're curious, you can read more about this type of spider on a less sticky web:

• Click here and scroll down to "Orb Weaver Spiders (Araneidae)".
• Click here for one other interesting site which shows other spiders of the type also photographed in the wilderness of Illinois.
  
• Finally, this site has loads of facts about this type of spider.

That's just a small taste of what's out there. The pictures on the sites above are incredible! I'll have to invest in a macro lens some day that would allow me to get a bit closer to these intriguing small critters...if I can!


I read that the she-spider will keep the frame of her home/nest/trap/artwork from day-to-day but ingest the inner silky threads every night to sustain her and then she'll rebuild the central orb each morning. Every day with a fresh new web, she'll wait for prey to entangle themselves in her sticky trap. Comfortingly, I read that this type of spider rarely bites humans and if it does bite, it would be similar to getting a bee sting. That's good to know, but I'm sure those intimidating spines probably aid in the arachnid's survival a little bit, don't you think?

I've never seen a spider like this in Arizona. What a treat it is to remember the woodland creature building her multi-functional home in such a nonchalant manner. She seemed so at ease, I imagine her humming as she weaves, carelessly glancing up at me with a few of her eight eyes every now and then. She apparently paid no attention to me as I hunkered close to her creation--as close as I could possibly get with my lens before I couldn't focus any more. She never retreated, never crouched in a threatening pose. I'm used to shier spiders that dash or cave into themselves when they realize I'm near (if I dare). Had I realized those were large spines on her hiney, though, I would have probably felt a little less bold. But it's a strange affect that spiders have on me--especially talented weaving ones. I gravitate to them and want to document their artistry, but unfortunately, I also am very susceptible to the heebiejeebies. However, I think I got more squirmy looking at these pictures close up on my computer screen just now compared to how I felt as I stood beside her in a damp, dark wood. I was amazed there in the forest as I orbited her web and examined it from all angles. I was witnessing a marvel; a little bit of magic.

Entrapped,
Dawn