Yellow ariope – Black argiope – Argiope aurantia

Black and Yellow Argiope   Scientific Name: Argiope aurantia Common Name: Yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, Black, and yellow garden spider, writing spider, Zipper spider, Zigzag spider, Black, and Yellow Argiope, Steeler spider, Corn spider, McKinley spider. Appearance: Like other true spiders, females of this species have a larger size than males. Females grow up to 19-28 mm while males grow up to only 5-9 mm. They have a black oval abdomen with a yellow or orange pattern. The cephalothorax has short silver hairs, and the legs have black-yellow bands with red portions at the base. They have three claws per foot like orb weaver spiders. Host Plants or Food: Carnivorous. It feeds on mosquitoes, flies, wasps, bees, beetles, aphids, bugs, grasshoppers, moths, etc. Territory: North America, Central America Mode of Damage: Beneficial Garden Insect. Habits and Life History: Yellow garden spiders are found in almost every habitat except rocky mountains. They live in gardens, flowers, tall trees, shrubs, etc. When males feel to mate, they leave their webs and search for females. After finding a female, they wait for her near her web or build their web near her. After mating, the male dies or is eaten by a female partner. Then females build one or more egg sacs of brown color in which they lay the eggs. She attaches the egg’s sac to her web and looks after it. One egg sac contains 300 to 1400 eggs. After overwintering, eggs hatch in late summer into very minute spiderlings. Spiderlings gradually mature into adult yellow garden spiders, and the cycle continues.