Awesome Arachnid

What a difference a few inches makes.
I came around the corner quickly, and, had it not been for a slight breeze that rippled these silken strands, I’d not have seen her here, by the Hawthorn at the edge of the woods.
Stopped dead in my tracks by an odd looking creature in a wild get-up.
Pleased not to find her in my hair.

Her web, her masterpiece.
Spanning a two foot expanse, an orb—with 50 revolutions to its spiral if it has one.
She rests in the very center, shaded by the trees overhead, and scurries up a strand as I approach.


Her large spined black and white abdomen perhaps to confuse a would-be predator.
Though her flamboyant fashion sense, I question.
Black would be more slimming.
She must be the artsy type.

Spined Micrathena, female
Click photos to enlarge.