Spiders (Araneae)

A spiders interesting appearance may have many people believing that they are something to be scared of, but they are relatively harmless serve many ecological purposes.

Looking past appearances, you can see that they are your gardens best friend!

Spiders You Might Find in Your Garden

Yellow Garden Spider (argiope aurantia): These spiders are easily identifiable by their black and yellow abdomen (females). They are found in the US and Canada.

Wolf Spiders (lycosidae): Known for carrying their egg sac with them and have large and dark bodies that blend into their environment. They are found in most areas of the world.

Grass Spiders (agelenopsis): Identified by their long legs and two dark bands along their abdomen. These spiders are common to North America

Cross Orbweaver (araneus diadematus): These spiders are known for their reddish-brown bodies and white designs on its abdomen. They are originally from Europe, but are now common in North America

Spiders are extremely common throughout the world.

There are over 3000 different species of spiders found in North America alone!

Yellow garden spiders can be found throughout the continental United States and Canada, Mexico, and Central America.

Spiders are not actually insects!

They're arachnids! Spiders and insects have different physical features in their bodies, and actually belong to two separate classes.

The main difference is that an insect's body is divided into three segments (head, thorax, and abdomen), while a spider's body is separated into two segments (cephalothorax and abdomen).

A Spiders Life Cycle

After mating, a female spider makes an egg sac out of silk and lays her eggs inside. Each of these sacs can contain hundreds of spiderlings!

In areas with cold winters, eggs may stay dormant until spring. Once hatched, the spiderling will have to molt multiple times before it is considered an adult spider.

The garden spider has a lifespan of about a year. Usually, males die after mating, while females may live for many years if temperatures permit it.

What Makes Them So Good for Your Garden?

As one of the top predators, they are part of natural balance of life in your garden.

They help to control the population of pests such as aphids, mites, caterpillars, and more, that may harm your plants.

In fact, a healthy population of spiders in your garden means that there is a healthy population of other insects.

Garden spiders spend their entire day eating pests, which means you may reduce or eliminate using pesticides!

They can also serve as pollinators by spreading pollen from one plant to another.

Threats to Garden Spiders

Garden spiders' populations are stable and widespread, but here are a few things you can do in your garden to make it more spider-friendly.

Dont use pesticides! They kill off insects that spiders like to prey on as well as the spiders themselves!

Don't knock down their webs! This could knock down their egg sacs.

Try not to clear leaves and debris from your garden during the Spring season. Spiders are attracted to these hiding spots and use these spaces to build webs.

Natural Ways to Deter Spiders

Mint, lavender and rosemary are all safe ways to keep spiders out of your space.

Indigenous Knowledge

According to Navajo mythology, "Spider Grandmother" thought the world into existence through the conscious weaving of her webs.

Fun Facts

Spiders have blue blood like snails and octopuses.

Collectively, all spiders eat around 800 million tons of prey each year. To compare, whales only estimate up to 500 million tons of prey eaten.

Antarctica is the only continent with no spiders.

Some spider species break down and re-build their web every day.

References

gardeningchannel. “Are Spiders in My Garden a Good or Bad Thing?” Gardening Channel, 10 Aug. 2020, https://www.gardeningchannel.com/garden-spiders-good-or-bad/.

Lakna. “Difference Between Spiders and Insects | Definition, Body Parts, Behavior, Examples, Similarities and Differences.” Pediaa.Com, 12 Dec. 2017, https://pediaa.com/difference-between-spiders-and-insects/.

“Yellow Garden Spider.” National Wildlife Federation, https://www.nwf.org/Home/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Yellow-Garden-Spider. Accessed 18 May 2023.

https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/what-spiders-can-teach-us-about-ecology/

Created By

S L

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by Ali Burçin Titizel - "European garden spider waits for some food on its web." • jokuephotography - "Close-up of an European garden spider (cross spider, Araneus diadematus) in its cobweg with dewdrops in backlit" • Africa Studio - "Composition with flowers and gardening tools on soil background" • blackdiamond67 - "Spider on a spider web- Stock Image " • andrei310 - "Whitefly Aleyrodes proletella agricultural pest on cabbage leaf" • Rawpixel.com - "Kid in a garden experience and idea" • tendo23 - "mint leaves background" • PhotoIris2021 - "Soft focus on beautiful lavender flower, beautiful lavender in flower garden" • jonnysek - "basil plant background" • enterphoto - "Spider on a spider web" • michelangeloop - "Close up spider on the transparent web"