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Friend!!!!
Spiders play an important role in the garden and make up a successful ecosystem. While most people's first instinct is to kill or remove spiders, they should be left alone to be a great natural predator in your garden. Lets talk a little more about Yellow Garden Spiders.
Yellow Garden Spiders, or Argiope aurantia for you science nerds, are large orb-weaving spiders. Orb weavers are spiders who spin large circular webs. Another name for this spider is The Writing Spider which it gets from its trademark zig-zag pattern it constructs in the middle of its web. The zig-zag and the spider's distinct coloration make it an easily identifiable spider. Not to mention they can get large compared to other Florida spiders so they are not hard to miss.
At first glance, it is easy to confused this spider with "Banana Spiders". I feel like any large spider in a large web is called a Banana Spider in Florida. However, they are two different species of spiders. The Banana Spider is also called the Golden Orb Weaver or Nephila clavipes. The zig zag pattern helps differentiate the two along with the red coloration that is only on the Golden Orb Weaver.
Adult female Yellow Garden Spiders look completely different than males. They are full of color and much larger. Males are smaller and brown in color. Females lay circular eggs on their web. Eggs tend to be located on areas of the web that have foilage to help protect the egg from being seen by other predators.
When babies are hatched they eventually will balloon away from their egg site. This process involves using silk to basically parachute away using wind currents. Younger spiders build their webs closer to the ground. As they age, the height at which they spin their webs gets higher in the air. Web construction occurs at night and adults can be finished by morning.
When choosing a location for their web, Yellow Garden Spiders prefer to attach to trees, shrubs, and other sturdy weeds. This allows them to have the highest chance of catching unsuspecting flying prey. Younger spiders seem to like placing their webs towards light sources. I wonder if this began as an attempt to target moths? While any vegetation will do, Bush clover, Lespedeza spp. is the most preferred according to UF's Entomology & Nematology website.
Yellow Garden Spiders prey on several other insects. The most common are dragonflies, wasps, and bees. Flies, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, and moths are less common. However, like an oppurtunistic hunter, anything that gets stuck in the web becomes prey.
Yellow Garden Spiders are usually present at the center of their webs waiting to feel vibrations caused by prey getting stuck in the sticky coating that they coat their webs in. Once stuck, the spider will wait till there isn't much movement from the prey. Next, they will pull at the web to find where the prey has been captured. I haven't found much info on if they do this because they cannot see the prey. You would think they would see the prey that close but I have observed this spider pulling at the web when prey was only a few inches away.
Once located, the spider moves to the prey and wraps them in silk which is called "throwing". They can also wrap the prey in a technique called roational swathing. This is where the spider rotates the prey and attaches silk simultaneously. Lastly, they can use a method called walking swath, which is when the spider walks over and around the prey binding it in silk.
Once this process is complete, the spider envenomates the prey. The venom kills the prey and liquefies their internal organs making it ready for consumption.
Natural enemies of Yellow Garden Spiders include other spiders and Mud daubers. In defense, these spiders sometimes create barrier webs to protect themselves from flying enemies.
Spiders are just another insect in the ecosystem of a healthy garden. As a gardener who enjoys bringing in beneficial pollinators - especially butterflies - it is hard to watch when a butterfly is the accidental prey. Just recently I witnessed a monarch falling prey to this spider. I could have interjected and attempted to save the monarch from the deadly graps of the spider. But, this is part of nature. Part of the ecosystem I have tried so hard to build in my garden.
The hardest part of gardening in an ecosystem is allowing the ecosystem to work. From the bacteria in the soil, to natural predators preying on insects... the goal is balance.
Scroll down to see the video of this spider wrapping the monarch prior to envenomation.
References:
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/SPIDERS/yellow-garden-spider.html