Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver
Alan Whitaker took a picture of this spider a couple of weeks ago while on vacation in Bermuda, immediately prior to defeating it with his hookshot. He could also have used the Hero’s Bow, but says he was trying to conserve arrows for an upcoming boss fight.
The rest of you need to play more Zelda, I’m just saying.
Meet Gasterocantha cancriformis, the crablike spiny orb weaver. This spider has a fun name. You might be thinking that Gasterocantha means “skull” and cancriformis means “with flaming tentacles shooting off it”, and I certainly couldn’t fault you for that reasoning. But it actually turns out that Gaster means “abdomen”, canthis means “corner or spike”, cancer means “crab” and formis means “in the shape of”. So Gasterocantha cancriformis literally translates to “spikybellied crabshaped”. This is an orb weaver, meaning she makes classic flat spiral webs, so that’s how we get her full common name: Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver.
It turns out that these spiders are somewhat common in the Southeastern US. Bermuda is in the caribbean sea, a few thousand miles off the coast of Florida, so the region and climate still fit. They actually come in several colors, including a yellow one with blue spikes that looks like nothing so much as a smiley face. Nothing says “I’m a freaky spider” quite like having your backside look like a yellow skull grinning “Welcome to WalMart, Have A Nice Day”.
Thanks, Alan!
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
Kestralyn said,
April 25, 2008 @ 10:50 am
Is that the top of her abdomen? That looks like the freakiest hockey mask ever!
Very cool! But please don’t come visit my house, ‘k?
CyberLizard said,
April 25, 2008 @ 11:21 am
We’ve got these all through the woods where I hike in central Florida. I used to freak at them, but running headfirst into the web of a Golden Orb Weaver cured me of the freak. Nothing like the sound of a 3″ spider’s feet scrambling across your hat to cure you of fear of such a tiny guy as this!
AJ said,
April 25, 2008 @ 11:58 am
I’ve got a new favoritest spider ever!
JFargo said,
April 26, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
Awesome spider, and the write up had me laughing out loud, literally.
tceisele said,
April 28, 2008 @ 8:45 am
Well, here’s a coincidence: On Sunday, Ugly Overload put up another picture of the same kind of spider, also from Bermuda! I wonder if Bermuda is absolutely crawling with these, or if by some chance *they both happened to stumble across the same spider*. Or maybe the tourism board intentionally raises them, and plants them around so that tourists can spot them and take pictures . . .
Athena said,
April 28, 2008 @ 9:19 am
That thing is freaky… and awesome. LOL
We now know why spiders don’t give birth…
Kit Watson said,
April 29, 2008 @ 9:56 am
The write-ups often have me laughing out loud.
In fact, I am *still* giggling about the spider that loves to grom.
Mallory said,
June 7, 2008 @ 10:01 am
I stumbled across this because we have one of these in our front garden and I’ve been trying to figure out what it is. It’s built a giant web right across the walkway from our front door to the street, which we kept accidentally knocking down and now it’s sort of moved its web to the same spot but off to the side a bit. It’s kind of cool but kind of freaky to have this giant (but beautiful!) spider web in the front yard.