Hawaiian Garden Spider
Taken in Maui while I was on vacation with my family, I found a palm tree with like 20 spider webs under it, all of them were these Hawaiian Garden Spiders. My phone wasn’t focusing on the spider so I put my hand veeeery close behind it, but never actually touched it.
I love the pattern of them! It’s so striking!
12 replies
spoods are great [warning or mating 'dance' of a peacock spooder]
Isn't that a mating dance, or is it both?
Could be! tbh I might be misremembering. I know a few jumping spooders wave around the legs if they feel threatened, but this might be different because it's all pretty-like.
We had a golden orv weaver that built a web blocking the entrance to my garden. They look intense/gorgeous, but are actually beneficial. I just avoided the entrance for a couple weeks until he moved further into the garden.
(Theh look similar to this spider you posted, here is a generic photo I found of one)
The picture you posted (Argiope aurantia) is indeed the same genus as OPs, the Hawaiian variant here is most likley Argiope appensa.
However the name "golden orb weaver" refers to the genera Trichonephila and Nephila, which look kind of similar, but get their name because they actually produce golden silk.
That's cool when I saw their photo it seemed so familiar which I thought was kind of crazy because I live in Tennessee. So they exist 7000km apart on an island created by a volcano at a completely different time period. Just to think about how all the wild life got there is kind of crazy.
Edit to add horrible picture
Argiope sp. for sure.
I don't believe the not touching part. That's so closeeee!
Probably just a couple mms!
We had a couple lovely ladies leave egg sacs on the carport last year, so we've got dozens, if not hundreds, of garden spiders around this year. They're everywhere. In the trees and bushes, under the roof and between the columns, on every side of the house. The biggest are now quite large. It'll be exciting to see how many we have next year.
hehe :)
Orb weavers are amazing at spreading out .. or just dying out when the density get's to high. They are very self-regulating and their success also depends on how much prey is around.
We don't use poison and are surrounded by woods, so there's lots of prey. I feel sorry for my non-spider-loving bf, but also hope he'll grow to like them as he gets used to them.