spider identification

[eleni_greg]

Hi,

i've got a strange spider next to me. It's small (rougly a 5p coin in size), brown with a white belly with red/brown stripes. Could somebody tell me what it is?

Many thanks

Eleni

[Venger]

A photo would really help
There are 450+ species of spider in the UK, so more info is needed

I'd suggest you go visit this website, it has lots of pictures - so maybe you could narrow it down:
UK Spiders
Hope this helps, and welcome to WAB

[eleni_greg]

Such a useful website! I think it's "Enoplognatha ovata".

Thank you very much for your help

Eleni

[Venger]

You're welcome - it's a good beginner site, lots of pictures though I can't guarentee that they are all 100% correct.
If you get more into spiders I could put up more detailed sites to visit.

[jaypersuader]

Hello all. spider identification needed. was on my laundry hanging outside.

a few millimetres across, dull yellow colour with darker legs. on the rear of the abdomen was a single black dot.

Hove / Brighton. Uk. terraced house with typical small back garden.

also...
on the lawn, near the path, a few feet from the plant border. approximately 30 small eggs.

dull cream / white colour. some split. approx half a centimetre across.

seemed an odd place to lay, cosidering natural predators such as birds, rats etc.

could they be snake eggs?
same location as above, Hove / Brighton, UK. typical back garden, and near a train track.

dull overcast but warm weather, had been raining on and off past two days

[John_M]

Almost impossible to say without a photo, but could be an Araneus spiderling, there's a lot of them around at present. The black mark on the abdomen is more of a triangle though.

[Stevie B]

I'm new to this website and may not be doing things correctly!

This picture shows one of several spiders in my garden this week (early October). A "garden spider"???
Interesting "spoof" eyes. Also, several legs seem to be missing and growing back afresh - would that be correct? Any help welcome, please, including where to go to learn more.
Steve

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Stevie B

I'm new to this website and may not be doing things correctly!

This picture shows one of several spiders in my garden this week (early October). A "garden spider"???
Interesting "spoof" eyes. Also, several legs seem to be missing and growing back afresh - would that be correct? Any help welcome, please, including where to go to learn more.
Steve

Welcome Stevie! This is the commmon Garden Orb-web Spider, Araneus diadematus. Abundant at the moment.

[nikolai_avenger]

Originally Posted by Stevie B

Also, several legs seem to be missing and growing back afresh - would that be correct?

It is worth noting that the 3rd pair of legs in Araneus diadematus is realtively shorter than the others, amongst other things this aids in the spider's manouvreability in the web, and the construction of the web itself. Watch a spider spin a web, it is interesting how all the legs are co-ordinated and utilised in constructing the web.

It is also a fact that the courtship ritual of Araneus diadematus is not usually a cordial process, with loss of limb(s) or part thereof often occuring in both male and female. The male has to be very careful when entering the web not to be mistaken for prey.

One recent such encounter that I observed ended with the male only giving it up as a bad job after the loss of two limbs to the female, who then proceeded to wrap the said limbs in silk presumably as a meal for later.

I understand that some speices of spider are also able to shed limbs in certain circumstances and regenerate new ones thereafter, although I do not know if A. Diadematus is able to do this.



Best regards, Nik.

[Stevie B]

Thank you kindly, that's quite an education for me.
Here's a picture of another example fairly close by. In this one the legs are very similar in length, quite unlike the much smaller ones in the first picture.
Steve