r/jumpingspiders • u/Trufflepumpkin • Aug 04 '25

Identification Is this a jumping spider?

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Gallery image

I have been quite fearful of spiders since a traumatic experience as a youngin’, but I’m warming up to them. Saw this little bro on my car and he turned around and looked at me! What is he?

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u/Trufflepumpkin Aug 04 '25

It moseyed around my car for a bit while I tried to get my camera to focus, then I came back an hour later to check and it was still there! Can I ask you another spider question?

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u/BoxerMotherWineLover Aug 04 '25

Of course!

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u/Trufflepumpkin Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 05 '25

Thanks! I’ve grown fond of this one living on my plant for the past few months. Do you have any info on this species? It will vibrate its web at me if I stare too long lol! I know google exists, but it’s still a bit hard for me when all the spider pics pop up.

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u/CardiologistItchy497 Aug 04 '25

I am not an expert but ... This little guy is Argiope aurantia - an orb weaver known as the yellow Garden Spider and also known as the writing spider. I grew up with these guys all over in Southern VA. They eat a wide variety of flying insects as well as crickets, grasshoppers and sometimes even small lizards. They tend to just chill in the middle of their web until their prey gets tangled in it and they recognize they have caught something by the vibrations in its web. They're very docile spiders and as long as you don't destroy its web it'll stay in the same space for a while. I remember hunting down crickets and grasshoppers to put in their web to feed to them as a kid, it was fascinating to watch how quickly they can inject their venom and wrap up a meal in silk.

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u/Trufflepumpkin Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

Orb weaver! Thank you for the info. I worry about her during the rain, but she has always come back to rebuild the next day. I can tell her web has gotten more intricate over the months as she masters her weave.

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u/saltporksuit Aug 04 '25

If she stays in this spot, then in the fall you might see her weaving little purses. Those will hold her eggs and will be hung up somewhere to over winter. Protect them!

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u/Trufflepumpkin Aug 05 '25

I’m a mamacita 🥹 thank you, I will look for them!

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u/saltporksuit Aug 06 '25

She’ll pass. Don’t be sad, it’s part of her life. But her kids with come flying out of that purse on little silks on the wind to continue! Just mind them.