North Carolina Wildlife

Posted on August 26, 2013 by fitz

I’ve no idea if this is venomous…and don’t want to find out the hard way.

About fitz

Woodworker, writer, editor, teacher, ailurophile, Shakespearean. Will write for air-dried walnut.

View all posts by fitz →

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to North Carolina Wildlife

Seamus says:

August 26, 2013 at 5:15 am

looks like a common
Argiope Aurantia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_aurantia

Reply
Graham Hughes says:

August 26, 2013 at 5:29 am

All spiders are venomous (with three exceptions that are irrelevant here). Only two in the United States have venom that affects humans; these are the black widow and the brown recluse, neither one of which are enormous or, for that matter, look even vaguely like that. So I would say you are probably safe, and that you should let the thing-what-eats-all-the-mosquitoes live :).

Reply
bsrlee says:

August 26, 2013 at 9:40 am

If you were in Australia you would recognise it as a ‘Golden Orb Weaver’ and not be worried unless you have 6 or more legs. They can fang you if you annoy them enough (causes mild irritation in some people, generally kids who poke them) but generally they just try to get away (birds think they are yummy). Their main interaction with people in Oz is their annoying habit of building their webs at night across walkways, which causes many moments of ‘Yuck’ and ‘Is the spider on MY side of the web (and now plastered to my face)?’

So you may have an ‘illegal immigrant’ – don’t bother sending it back – I anticipate several brief encounters with members of the species over the southern summer, once they become active.

Reply
Mark says:

August 26, 2013 at 7:37 pm

They, and other species, are all over the outside my house and yard. Looks kind of like I’m getting ready for Halloween. On the up side, the palmetto bug population seems to be way down this year.

Reply