Yellow and Black Spider

You will find that there are many types of garden spiders, one of which is the yellow and black spider. The black and yellow spider is also known as writing spider, banana spider or corn spider. The scientific name is Argiope aurantia. This arachnoid is classified as follows:

Classification of Yellow and Black Spider
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Argiope
Species: Argiope aurantia
Binomial Name: Argiope aurantia

Habitat
You may find yellow and black spiders with red legs in sunny fields in a concealed area with little or no wind. They make home along the eaves of building, tall vegetation, houses, etc. The webs are made two to eight feet off the ground and female black and yellow spiders stay in one place throughout their life. These spiders are found in southern Canada and throughout America. They are although not common in Rocky Mountains and Canada Great Basin area.

Characteristics
These are easy to identify because of their distinctive color markings. Their legs have alternate bands of black and orange color and a pattern that varies spider to spider. Like most spider species, the females are larger than the males. They are about 19 mm to 28 mm in size as compared to males that measure only 5 mm to 8 mm. The males have a paler color shade as opposed to the bright-colored females. The yellow and black spider produces zig-zag pattern of webs down the middle. The webs are built as a spiral from the center and most probably by nearby males.

Reproduction
The yellow and black garden spiders breed once a year. The males find the female spider and build a small web near her web. Then he starts plucking her web and approaches with caution to court her. The male spider often drops a safety line just in case the female attacks him. The male spider unfortunately dies after mating or is eaten up by the female.

The female lays her eggs on silky material sheet and covers it with a layer of silk. The eggs are then protected with a brownish silk and uses her legs to form a ball of the sheet. This ball is called the egg sac and is often suspended from the web. There are one to four egg sacs produced by each female and each contain over a thousand eggs. These eggs are closely guarded by the female as long as she can. In winter, she becomes frail and dies during the first hard frost. Her babies hatch in spring and are so tiny that they look like dust collected in the silk mesh. These spiderlings live nearby and some get caught in a breeze and are flown to distant areas.

Diet
These spiders spend most of their time in the webs and wait patiently to catch food. Once an insect is caught in the web, they shake the web back and forth to trap the insect. The spider then reaches the insect and injects venom in the insect by biting it. The insect thus gets subdued by the spider and is wrapped by the spider with the back legs. This wrapped insect is kept in the middle of the nest, till it feels like eating its snack. They love eating aphids, grasshoppers, wasps and bees.

Many people are scared of getting bitten by these spiders. But these spiders are not considered to be dangerous. They may bite when provoked and the venom won't cause much of a problem to humans. They are relatively harmless to humans.

These spiders are very helpful as they eat away the aphids, flies, mosquitoes as well other garden pests. The next time you spot a black and yellow spider in your garden do not disturb the spider and it will do no harm to you.