Yellow Garden Spider

Argiope aurantia

Appearance

• Black with orange / yellow markings.
• Females are up to 3 times the size of males. Male bodies can be roughly 5-10mm long, females 19-30mm.

Lifecycle

• Yellow garden spiders breed once a year.
• After mating the male dies, then sometimes eaten by the female.
• After egg-laying the female deteriorates – she becomes sluggish, thinner, some of her bright yellow colouring fades and she eventually dies.
• The eggs hatch in Fall although the young spiders stay inside the sac over Winter, emerging the following Spring and reaching maturity in Summer.

Habits

• These spiders are harmless to humans.
• They are most active during the daytime, seen in sunny fields amongst plants and flowers but sometimes along the eaves of houses and outbuildings.
• The webs are circular, up to 2 feet across and have a distinctive zigzag of silk in the centre. The webs tend to be 2-8 feet off the ground.