Basilica Orbweaver

Here is, I believe, a pair of Basilica Orbweaver spiders. (At least one arthropod professional endorsed this identification, so that's what I'm going with.)

These spiders start life (spiderlings) building fairly conventional orb webs that we usually associate with spiders, but as they mature they begin building webs that are more complicated and somewhat domed, thus giving them the basilica part of their common name. Both males and females build these webs, frequently near one another. Like with many spiders, the females are larger, though at best they're only going to be about a centimeter in size. (I suspect that if spiders were a little bigger, I'd have more pictures for you, and I'd be better at identifying them.)

They typically take down their webs at night and mostly rebuild them fresh the next day, but this species is also known to protect their egg sacs by wrapping the old web around them. I'm not certain that that's an egg sac in the picture; usually there would be something like that webby globe, below which would be attached more webby globes in a bit of a vertical line. Perhaps this is the first egg sac, and more will be added?

If so, does the presence of the 2 spiders imply that mating is soon to occur, culminating in another egg sac? It sounds plausible, but I have to acknowledge that I'm making some educated guesses here.

July 23, 2021 at the Plainsboro Preserve
Photo 148593026, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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