Walnut Orb Spider

[dmclean3]

Hi Folks,
I wanted to share these pics with you and give some pointers to the ID of spiders from pics, This spider is the Walnut Orb Spider - Nuctena umbratica and it's a female. It took up residence in my bug box which has 11 holes with Leafcutter bee larvae ( Megachile centuncularis) in them, soon to hatch out,
So after I had finised the photo shoot I relocated the spider in another part of the garden,
She is about 13mm long and responds well to the web being shaken and stopping long enough for a good shot.
Duncan







Check the underside for sternum patern and the epygine for species


good shot of the patern on the back


The eye set will get you to Genus

[Suzanne B]

Thanks Duncan
That's a great series of photos and very helpful too.
(Although the last one nearly gave me heart failure when I clicked on it and it magnified in size.)
It's always helpful to know what we should be looking for to get correct id's for things we photograph, so it's much appreciated that you have taken the time to visually show us and point us in the right direction. (not sure how brave I'll be but at least I know what I should be doing.)
Nice to see your bug box is being put to good use as well, and leaf cutter bees are certainly amazing to watch in action, so its great to be able to give them a good start in life.
Suzanne

[dmclean3]

The bug box I made myself out of half a split log, and the holes that the Leaf cutter bees use are 8mm in diameter and 25mm deep, they seem to prefer this size rather than the 10 mm holes that the spider used,
Duncan