Marbled Orb Weaver

Marbled Orb Weaver (Araneus marmoreus) is a very common Orb spider in our neighborhood. In less than a 100 yard walk through an overgrown field I found 4 of these very colorful spiders.The Orb weaver spiders build large webs, 3 to 6 feet above the ground, suspended from trees or bushes. Once you find a web, look for some folded-over leaves at the top of the web, this is where the Orb Weaver's wait for their next meal.



While photographing  the first Marbled Orb Weaver, a second, smaller Marbled Orb Weaver crawled out the same branch.



I'm not sure if the smaller spider is the offspring of the larger Marbled Orb Weaver, but they were friendly to each other (and me). The smaller spider wander off and re-appear several times while I was photographing the larger spider.



Just a few yards away from the first two Marbled Orb Weavers, I found this one hiding under some ferns.



Not only do spiders have 8 legs, they also have 8 eyes. Different types of spiders have different eye placement configurations and the eye patterns are used to identify different families of spiders.The Orb spiders have 4 eyes in the center and 2 eyes on each side of its head.