Yellow and black garden orb weaver

Habitat:

spotted in lemon tree at riverfront home

Notes:

The grasshopper is about 2 inches long, so this is a fairly large spider. There are four species of garden orbweavers, each with slight differences in size and color. The Yellow and Black Garden Orbweaver (Argiope aurantia) is probably the most common in our area, and has several other common names, such as the Writing spider. This name may be the inspiration for the well known children’s story, Charlotte’s Web, because it makes a thickened, zigzag band of silk that looks like it was drawn on the web