Lady Spiny Orb-Weaver

Spiny orb-weaver, (Gasteracantha Cancriformis.) The spiny orb-weaver spider is one of the most colorful and easily recognized spiders in Florida. The dorsum of the abdomen is usually white with black spots and large red spines on the margin. Specimens from other areas may have the abdominal dorsum yellow instead of white, may have black spines instead of red, or may be almost entirely black dorsally and ventrally.Females are 5 mm to 10 mm long and 10 mm to 14 mm wide. Males are much smaller than females, 2 to 3 mm long, and slightly longer than wide. Color is similar to the female, except the abdomen is gray with white spots.

The colloquial name for this spider in parts of Florida is "crab spider", although it is not related to any of the families of spiders commonly called crab spiders, e.g., Thomisidoe.

It was not easy to focus on this lady Orb-Weaver because she was floating with the breeze among the branches of the live oak tree. She is about 10mm wide as seen from under her belly. This is her permanent Miami residence in our backyard and we must remember not to walk through and destroy her web, although I guess she can spin a new one in no time. The white spot in the lower part of the web is one of her many meal tickets that she caught.