100 More Species #23: Orchard Orbweaver

[urbpan]

Orchard orbweaver Leucage venusta

The orchard orbweaver is a beautiful little spider striped with silver, yellow, and green. Some individuals have orange spots on their undersides; variations within the species were once taken to be different species entirely but they have been conflated. They are a woodland species, but the edges of shrubbery in the suburbs seem to suit them fine; they range from southern Canada to Central America. One source notes that, when disturbed, the orchard orbweaver drops from its web to the ground. This second photo shows my subject in the process of, but not quite committed to this behavior. Perhaps it is reluctant to drop its morsel of insect, still enfanged.