Oh, Orbweaver, I believe we can reach the morning ligghhht!
Great Lakes region, USA. June 2026.
I believe this is a sixspotted orbweaver (Araniella displicata). Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm guessing it's a male?
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I count at least 8 spots
Which ironically actually confirms that it's a six spotted orb-weaver. The only other Araniella species in NA (A. proxima) has a maximum of 6 spots, while A. displicata has 6 or 8!
I'm actually quite curious why you guessed that. You tend to be quite good with your IDs (and your photos are just brilliant), but that seems like a big blunder, no offence.
You can basically assume that if a spider is very plump, thicc, or round, it's a female. It will be true the vast majority of the time.
Males very often just have the role of getting a female pregnant and will just die naturally a short time after mating, so there is little incentive for them to build up a big nutrient reserve. But the females do to develop the eggs.
Also the timing fits perfectly for this one. Araniella displicata will ley it's eggs around the start of July, so any specimen you encounter this time of year will be mature and probably female (since the males already have or about to die). The mature males also look quite different in this species and have very prominent pedipalps.
Anyway, enjoy the infodump :D
I'm not well versed in arachnology really. I'm much more of a hobbyist. I was under the impression that female orbweavers usually live secluded lives and this one was right out in the open. I had no clue males don't spin web, so that was my first mistake. Also I couldn't tell if the pedipalps were large or not. Rookie mistakes I know, but I'm not afraid of being wrong and learning. Thanks for the info.
Oh they do, but they only until they hit maturity, then they'll off looking for love. A very common pattern even across infraorders (also true for a lot of tarantulas and co).
You know it when you see it.
That's what we're here for, I'm really just trying to be helpful!
Agree on the ID, it's also the only officially confirmed Araniella sp. in the US with A. proxima only being recorded in Canada so far.
Definitely a female, though. Gravid, too!