Orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta) is a sedentary, small, brilliantly colored, long-jawed orb weaver. It is one of the most common spiders in the eastern United States, but is less common in Minnesota, where it reaches the western extent of its range. It is found in forests, dense woodlands, woodland edges, shrubby meadows, gardens, and orchards.

The species name venusta is Latin for “beautiful” and it is easy to see why it was given to this spider. The abdomen is silvery-white with four pairs of dark stripes, a yellow stripe on each side, and often a pair of bright coppery-red spots toward the rear.

Charles Darwin collected this species in 1832 on his voyage of the Beagle. He named it Leucauge argyrobapta. Both names are from the Greek, Leucauge meaning “with a bright gleam,” and argyrobapta meaning “dipped in silver.” The specimen was lost after Darwin’s voyage back to London.

In 1973, as party of an experiment to study web building in zero gravity, two orchard weaver spiders were brought to the U.S. space station Skylab 3. After some time to adjust to weightlessness, the spiders constructed complete webs that were not much different than those constructed on earth.

Photo by Alfredo Colon

http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Arachnids/orchard_orbweaver.html