Red Garden Orb Weaving Spider

Habitat:

In sparse woodland on the bark of an old red gum about 2m up the trunk

Notes:

This is an exciting find. The spider has become the colour of the bark of the red gum and even shows the striping of its home. I photographed spiders exclusively for almost a decade and this is the first red one so far. It has some sort of mite or midge on it's back and is about 4 to 5cm long as it sits there.