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Spiders 23 images Created 2 Apr 2012

Images of spiders found and photographed across Florida by wildlife photographer Rich Leighton.
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  • 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
  • Huge female with distinctive "zig-zag" web under a shrub near Hickey's Creek in Lee County, Florida.
    Black-and-Yellow Garden 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Huge fishing spider carefully photographed in the Fakahatchee Strand. These guys can get aggressive and do bite hard!
    Fishing 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
  • Unusually large golden silk spider in the Apalachicola National Forest.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • Brilliant and colorful, the large golden silk spider is a very common sight in nearly every Florida forest and woodland.
    Golden Silk 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 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 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
  • The biggest black-and-yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) I've ever seen! This huge female was positioned on her massive orb web between a couple clumps of palmettos and some live oaks near Hickey's Creek in Alva, Florida.
    Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider
  • 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)
  • A common orbweaver of thick hardwood forests of the American Southeast, this beautiful spider can be found as far north up the Atlantic coast as New England, and as far west as the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain ranges. Harmless to humans, these spiders weave enormous webs between the trees and are responsible for keeping flying insect populations in check wherever they are found. This one was spotted in the trees in Goethe State Forest in Central Florida.
    Red-femured Orbweaver
  • An absolute stunner! Probably the coolest of all the orbweaver spiders, the spiny-backed orbweaver looks like it was designed by an anime artist and not something you'd find out in the wild, especially like this particularly beautiful one found on Sanibel Island in Southwest Florida. Harmless to humans, these tiny spiders are most often found after walking into one of their suspended webs while walking in between trees.
    Spiny-backed Orbweaver (Gasteracanth..mis)
  • Very cool-looking and unusual as far as your average orbweaver spider goes, the arrow-shaped orbweaver has a very bizarre and trianglular-shaped spiky abdomen. Harmless to humans, they can be found across most of the eastern half of the United States, the southern tip of Ontario and almost all of Mexico. This one was found in rural North-Central Florida along the banks of the Suwannee River.
    Arrow-shaped Orbweaver