A Spider Ms Muffet Would Like

Yellow Garden Spider. Tom Ernst



It's hard not to notice the large yellow, black, red and white spider which has made a beautiful web alongside the shed in the Children's Garden.  This is a harmless yellow garden spider, also known as the black-and-yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia).  A visitor to the garden told me that locally it's called the Maryland spider because the colors are the same as Maryland's state flag, and the University's new football helmets.





Yellow Garden Spider Egg Case. J. Schaeffer

These spiders make a large round web with a distinctive  zig-zag design in the middle which may help hide the spider, attract prey or prevent destruction by birds and other large animals.  In one corner of her web, our spider has hung a brownish, round 1" egg sac, made from layers of her silk and containing  hundreds of spiderlings that will emerge in the spring.  Her web has captured a variety of prey items--we've seen moths, grasshoppers and stinkbugs (yeah!) there.  She will die as the cold of winter approaches.

We enjoy seeing the variety of beneficial insects and spiders that our children's garden attracts, especially if they eat stink bugs.  This is a spider even Ms Muffet would love.