This little friend turned up on my front porch a couple weeks ago, and it really put my camera to the test because when I call it little I mean tiny! But look at the coloration on it - what a beautiful creature! Leucage venusta is an orb weaver, and given my Google Images research, mine is a youngin so it should grow larger with time. The fourth photo was taken one week after the first three photos and I think perceptible growth can be seen even in that time.
orbweaver
Drugging Spiders to See What Happens to Their Webs
This is a thing that happened. The results are fascinating and not at all illuminatory all at the same time.* Read about it here.
*Don't worry, Lorraine is safe; reading about the experiments was enough for me!
Autumnal Porch Guest Lorraine the Spotted Orbweaver
Meet Lorraine!
Lorraine is an adult female Neoscona crucifera spider who has made a number of webs on my front porch this fall. I had noticed her presence a few times in the evenings as she hunted around the outside of my living room window, but we really made each other's acquaintance when she tested out a new web location a few days ago strung up between a potted plant and my front storm door; after I damaged it going out of my door in the morning and then again a second time coming back in later that evening, she took stock of her options and has since restrung her web off my porch railing and my hanging sweet potato vine. I'm interested to see if I'll be able to spot Lorraine's egg sac if/when she lays it since I'm looking forward to trying to witness her offspring hatch next spring.
