Spider

[wolcottdigger]

I almost walked into this while detecting the other day.
Anyone know what kind of spider it is, about an inch long
with a classic round web about 18 inches in diameter.

Joe

 

[Kevo_DFX]

http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Marbled-Orb-Weaver

It's an orb spider, very beneficial.

 

[chark21798]

I glad it was u and not me scary. HH Mark

 

[aka da Prof]

awwww, ain't she cute!!!?--kind like the 'Gold Bug'

 

[FingerGrime]

I see those spiders every once in a while. Now I know what type it is
Kind of frightening though...

 

[{Sentinel}]

Dang, that's a nasty looking one there. The back end looks very similar to a type of spider that we have down here in the South called a Banana Spider....but that front end totally precludes the one in your photo from being that one. Nice photo

 

[homefires]

Your going to need a bigger set of Boots if you find one of these!

http://www.camelspiders.net/

 

[Retired Sarge]

Here's our pet Camel Spider when we first caught her in Uzbekistan, when I left she was as big as a pack of Marlboro 100's. We called her butt-head due to her attitude! Last picture shows her next to my Zippo lighter for size comparison.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[Monty]

When I was in the USAF stationed in Libya out on a remote weapons range we had those darn camel spiders all over the place. They'd scare hell out of you but I don't remember anyone ever getting bitten by one. That was probably because we immediately squished every one we saw! We also had sand vipers and Asps that moved like a sidewinder rattler. That pic brought back a lot of memories. We had a huge acquarium down at our fire house by the emergency landing strip. We had several varietys of local snakes in there and put a couple of camel spiders in there just for display. But the darn snakes ate them! Thanks for the picture. Monty

 

[Retired Sarge]

We had a male we called Lil'Bit, and that Son Of A Gun got hold of my finger when I was cleaning out their cage, it hurt like Heck for a few days. He was overly aggressive, she put him in his place real quick one day when she grave-yarded him. Everybody on the Camp would come by to see her, and feed her. Although we weren't allowed pets/mascots they turned a blind-eye and allowed us to keep her. She was a good ole gal and I could handle her by hand. They are made out to be worse than they actually are by "Urban-Legend"! But still they will give you a fright when you come across one the first time.

Mike
USAF Retired