# Spider ID



## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Susan found this crazy looking spider out back today. It had blueish legs (clear and can see internal "blood" which is blue?) and a crazy abdomen which appeared gold metallic in the light. She is dying for an ID....we live in Maryland.


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## Brian Ferriera (Nov 1, 2006)

Any pattern on the abdomen? It kind of looks like Mecynogea lemniscata.. but its hard to see form the pic.
Brian


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

I dont know if you did this already brian but you can click on the picture to enlarge it and then click on it again to zoom in, this gets it up close and personal...

As for the spider no idea but it is really neat looking.


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## jwhite (Feb 20, 2008)

The spider is a harmless Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge venusta).


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Actually we had confirmation of this as Mecynogea lemniscata per Brian above. A local Marylander posted on an arachnid site the same spider in a photo. This assumes the arachnid guys are right...but it was definitely the same species.

Edit: Looking at photo's on google your species does seem more accurate based on morphology.


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## jwhite (Feb 20, 2008)

I was fairly certain about my ID, so I email the photo to a friend. Dr. Art Evans is a research associate in the Entomology Dept. at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Virginia Museum of Natural History and a heck of a nice guy. Art confirmed my ID of Leucauge venusta.

In one of Art's more current books "Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America" on page 389 his photo of L. venusta looks almost identical to the posted photo.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Always amazes me how little we are able to see with the human eye without a magnifying glass. Those colors & patterns are very pretty.


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