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Spiders 29 images Created 24 Apr 2015

Spiders are the most common type of arachnid found around the world, with roughly 3400 species found in North America alone with a fossil record that dates back a staggering 400 million years! All true spiders produce silk, and most species have venom that both kills and liquifies their prey.
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  • I was crouched down in a field in the Withlacoochee State Forest  in Central Florida photographing butterflies when I noticed this amazing sight among the wildflowers in front of me.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • The mouse spider is a beautiful, velvety (hence the name) brown spider and accidental European import that has established itself across much of North America. This speedy predator does not use a web to catch prey, but rather prefers to chase down and overpower insects and other spiders. At less than an inch in length, this spider is completely harmless to humans, unless you are in fact the size of a cricket. This mature female was found under a rock between Ellensburg and Vantage, Washington while hunting for scorpions.
    Mouse Spider
  • Unusually large golden silk spider in the Apalachicola National Forest.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • Huge female with distinctive "zig-zag" web under a shrub near Hickey's Creek in Lee County, Florida.
    Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider
  • Unexpectedly this whitebanded crab spider popped out of this buckthorn cholla cactus flower as I was photographing it in Southern Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the US-Mexico border. These tiny spiders can take down  surprisingly big prey - much bigger than themselves, and this one was clearly well-fed. Bees were everywhere!
    Whitebanded Crab Spider
  • Huge fishing spider carefully photographed in the Fakahatchee Strand. These guys can get aggressive and do bite hard!
    Fishing Spider
  • Green Lynx Spider photographed in Venice, Florida. This little critter was very photogenic and didn't seem to mind having about 60 shots taken to get this one right!
    Green Lynx Spider
  • The ultimate ambush predator! I was out photographing wildflowers and didn't even notice this little spider until I was focusing on the flowers!
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • Goldenrod crab spider eating a variegated fritillary butterfly in the Lake Talquin State Forest in North Florida. This little camouflaged spider really blends in with these flowers where the butterfly feeds!
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • I almost missed this little crab spider while hiking through rural Washington County on the Florida Panhandle.
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • A golden silk spider sits in the middle of her web in the CREW March Hiking Trails in Collier County, Florida.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • A female common ground crab spider of the genus Xysticus (probably X. cristatus) guards her egg sac in the sagebrush desert in Central Washington's Ginkgo Petrified Forest. This drab brown crab spider is in stark contrast to those crab spiders often found camouflaged brightly with vivd colors among flowers, and relies on active hunting over ambush predation. Sadly, this spider will complete her life cycle and die naturally before her spiderlings hatch and disperse to renew the cycle of life, but for now they are well protected and cared for.
    Ground Crab Spider with Egg Sac
  • This easily identifiable fuzzy orbweaver spider is found commonly in thickly vegetated habitats where there are enough trees to support their large spiderweb traps and enough insects to keep them fed. Beautiful bold banding on the legs, bright red femurs and an obvious cross on the top of the abdomen make this beauty easy to tell apart from other orb weavers. This one was found deep in a jungle-like, mosquito-infested area in eastern Collier County near the Collier-Hendry border in Southwest Florida, but they can be found in most suitable areas of the Southeast, and as far north up the Atlantic coast as New England, and as far west as the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain ranges.
    Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver
  • High contrast photograph of dewdrops sparkling on a spiderweb at dawn in the Florida Everglades.
    Spider Web
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • Green Lynx Spider photographed in Venice, Florida.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • A striped lynx spider waits patiently for something to be drawn to these false asphodel flowers in the Apalachicola National Forest in North Florida.
    Striped Lynx Spider
  • This big spider was actually seen from the car while driving through the Apalachicola National Forest. I just had to pull over!
    Silver Argiope
  • This very common spider found throughout the woodlands of the American Southeast is often confused with two very similar but not closely related species - the mabel orchard spider (Leucange mabelae) and the venusta orchard spider (Leucange venusta). The easiest identification tool is the pattern on the back of the abdomen: it has three lines on the abdomen that run parallel only about halfway across the abdomen. Completely harmless to humans, it is most often encountered in gardens, woodlands and wetlands. This one was photographed in the Corkscrew Swamp outside of Naples, Florida.
    Orchard Spider (Leucauge argyra)
  • Brilliant and colorful, the large golden silk spider is a very common sight in nearly every Florida forest and woodland.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • The mouse spider is a beautiful, velvety (hence the name) brown spider and accidental European import that has established itself across much of North America. This speedy predator does not use a web to catch prey, but rather prefers to chase down and overpower insects and other spiders. At less than an inch in length, this spider is completely harmless to humans, unless you are in fact the size of a cricket. This mature female was found under a rock between Ellensburg and Vantage, Washington while hunting for scorpions.
    Mouse Spider
  • A successful ambush - a green lynx spider eating a small green stink bug from inside a garden flower in Jefferson County, Florida.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • A massive golden silk spider catches a cicada - a testament to the strength and power of these predators. Note the much smaller male hanging around in the background.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • A large female Carolina wolf spider hunts among the forest leaf litter in search of prey above the Florida Caverns in Jackson County.
    Carolina Wolf Spider
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