A garden spider’s lasting legacy

Tyler—Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays, partly because my birthday falls the following day on All Saints Day. As a child, the ghosts, goblins, and garb were occasionally worked into a fake birthday party photo with me posed in the middle. 

November 2 is the Day of the Dead, a Mexican tradition honoring departed loved ones. This year, the three days seem especially appropriate because a yearlong resident of my front porch recently passed away, leaving behind six egg sacs and a legacy of natural pest control.

My departed friend was a large yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), one of the most beautiful and beneficial spiders in East Texas. She spent much of the summer and fall suspended in her impressive circular web near the porch light by my front door. It was a perfect location, with the light attracting a nightly buffet of moths and other flying insects. She consumed everything from our plague of love bugs to paper wasps and butterflies including a Gulf fritillary and a zebra swallowtail.

To me, “Charlotte” was a welcomed neighbor, but Mrs. G wasn’t near as hospitable. The negotiation for Charlotte’s season-long survival only succeeded when I explained she would pass away in the fall and agreed to relocate any egg sacs to prevent “a nest of them moving into the house.” P.S. and by the way, garden spiders can’t live a house…otherwise they would have been named “house spiders.”

Yellow garden spiders are sometimes called writing spiders because of the distinctive zigzag pattern of silk woven into the center of their webs. This white decoration, known as a stabilimentum is most likely there to prevent larger web destroying creatures like birds from flying into it.

The females are unmistakable, with large black and yellow abdomens, long banded legs, and bodies that can reach more than an inch in length. Their leg span makes them appear even larger. The males are considerably smaller and much less conspicuous. I saw him for a bit but after his job was done, so was he. 

Despite their intimidating appearance, and though deadly insects, garden spiders are considered harmless to people, with just enough venom to paralyze small insects. I’ve never heard of anyone being bitten. I’ve admired them for a lifetime and still occasionally toss writhing insect into their web to impress wide-eyed children.

Like most garden spiders, Argiope females spend their summers feeding, growing, and mating. As autumn approaches, they produce one to a few papery brown egg sacs containing hundreds of eggs. My porch pet would spend the night carefully wrapping each one in silk and suspending them to help protect from weather and predators.

My well-fed Charlotte had a particularly productive season, leaving six egg sacs behind. Although I enjoyed watching her throughout the summer, I knew her days were numbered. Female garden spiders typically live for only one growing season, dying as temperatures cool in autumn. Her offspring will hopefully emerge under the eaves of my barn or corn crib next spring where I’ll tell them stories about their Momá

Greg Grant, Ph.D., is the Smith County horticulturist and Master Gardener coordinator for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler.