Orb web spiders are common; some of the first webs that you ever saw as a child were most likely orb webs. I remember going out into my misty, dew covered back garden and coming face to face with one of these for the first time:
Simple elegant and beautiful the work of Metellina segmentata the common orb weaver.
Even building these (relatively) simple webs is pretty hard work: http://www.spiderroom.info/buildanorbweb.html
Yet there are many more ticks that the orb weavers have up their sleeves, and the less common varieties make webs of all kinds of brilliant shapes and forms. The wasp spider is an EU and U.K. resident that are not content with a standard orb web; they like to mix it up with some flare. Zigzag decorative silk patterns are built into their webs. They also have the ability to take on bombardier beetles (who defend themselves with a spray of noxious boiling acid), by shooting silk countermeasures at them before the beetle comes into range for its own acid attack (Pokémon like battles can be imagined at this point).
Argiope bruennichi the wasp spider has stylish taste, and its attacks against bombardier beetles are super effective!
Not to be outdone, there are a range of other orb weavers of the family Argiope that also produce awesome web enhancements called stabilimentum. Here is a choice selection of their brilliant webs:
The aptly named St Andrews cross spider (Argiope keyserlingi) has a thing for Scotland, too bad it lives in Australia...
I couldn’t find an ID for this guy, short of being an Argiope. This issue is fairly common in spiders (not being an expert!) as many are virtually impossible to tell apart to species level without years of training. Nevertheless, very cool web decoration.
Again another unknown Arigope, but so pretty I couldn’t resist!
Argiope aurantia the writing spider goes nuts with its own central decoration
The orb weavers have more tricks up their sleeves than just fancy decorations in the middle of a web. They are also the masters of size and scale in web design as well as raw web power. The golden orb web spider, Nephila maculata builds webs that are stronger than Kevlar. Most people know the fact that spider web is stronger than steel gram for gram, that is nothing to the golden orb weaver. Their webs are large (2m or so) and strong enough to catch birds.
Raw web power at its best...
Indigenous people of the Solomon Islands used the nets for just this purpose, along with fishing lines and even bandages. The slightly golden covered webs have been looked at by scientists hoping to grow replacement artificial human ligaments and tendons to be used to treat chronic injuries. In addition, since it is stronger than Kevlar, military type chaps are also figuring out how to make spider web bullet proof vests (sign me up for a suit of golden spider armour!).
Another species of Nephila, N. Komaci holds the title of the largest orb weaving spider known to man. These guys were just discovered in South Africa in a local park after two scientists were kicking around on their lunch break. It builds giant webs over 6m in diameter, and like many spiders the female has the nasty habit of eating the male either after or during sex. Of course who could blame her, she has so many eggs to make and the male is less than 1/10 of her size (no more than a light snack).
This is just the webs of one group of spiders; there are whole hosts of other fancy webs out there. Many don’t have the elegance of the orb weavers, but I’m sure I can come back to them at some point in the future. Maybe some of these beautiful webs can even convince you to foster a bit of spider love...
One step at a time perhaps!
oh, dear, the web pics are nice, but is that a bird on the spider web? it's kinda scary.
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