Spiny Backed Orb Weaver

Description:

@ www.insectidentification.org - The spines on the side of this spider make it unique and easy to recognize. Males are considerably smaller than females. Like other orb weavers, it creates a web that is circular in shape, only it has few or no spirals at the center of its web. Each night, a new web is spun. Late in the year, the female will lay eggs that will grow throughout winter, hatching spiderlings in spring.

Habitat:

Woodland edges and shrubby gardens.

Notes:

This spider had built a web across our front porch, from one of the columns to our Christmas tree. We had never seen anything like this spider, but it seems it's pretty common to our area.