Trashline Orbweaver (female)

Description:

Rough/spiny looking spider. Sitting in center of web with legs pulled in. Seemed to be eating a small insect. In the middle of the web, there were sections of debris, in vertical line segments, which I thought were there accidentally. I've just learned that Cyclosa spiders place these in their webs intentionally, to make it hard to distinguish the spider itself from the clumps of debris. It was very effective! I almost mistook the spider sitting in the center of the web for another piece of junk stuck there. Very cool spider strategy!

Habitat:

Suburban yard, in a flower bed, with web attached to our AC unit

Notes:

There was a smaller spider near the edge of the web, which I at first thought was a different species but now think is the male of the same species. (See other spotting)