Friends and Neighbors: Argiope Spider

Time for a confession (deep breath): I am not a huge fan of spiders.  Now, this isn't a very cool thing to admit as a biologist, as we are supposed to think all animals are 'awesome' and show no fear.  Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have out of control arachnophobia.  If I know where they are and they aren't large or hairy or leaping out at me from surprising locations, I am fine with them.  But there are times when I get spider induced heebeegeebees. I blame my Dad (sorry Pere, you are awesome in many ways, but I attribute my dislike of spiders to you).  At some point in my impressionable years, my sister was in her teenage angst phase and moved her bedroom to the basement.  For those of you that know my parents basement, it's not really 'finished' and can, at times, be the denizen of spiders and other such creepy-crawlies.  One morning she schlepped herself upstairs, wearing her housecoat and jammies and was unknowingly accompanied by what I can only describe as a huge-ass wolf spider on her back.  We shrieked, she chucked off her housecoat, and my dad came to investigate what the high-pitched noise was about.  Exhibiting Dad-bravery, he caught the spider in a baseball card case.  Knowing that the case was locked, as a joke (like father's tend to do), he tossed the case (with huge-ass spider inside) towards me.  I lost it- completely terrified.  Now, I could wax philosophical about how society has trained us to hate spiders and how the fear of 'other' has villafied them...but I will spare you. Long story short, spiders = not awesome in my eyes. However, this is my new neighbor and I am ok with it:

Meet an argiope spider.  They are everywhere here.  They are kind of awesome for several reasons.  First, they stay put.  You don't find them creeping around or lurking about places you don't want to see them.  They stay on their web and don't pop out of anywhere unexpectedly (like the creepy huntsmans!).  Secondly, they build a kick-ass web. It's beautiful- I admire their craft. They are an orb spider; apparently this type of spider builds some of the the strongest webs in the spider-world and if undisturbed can last several years!  Thirdly, they exhibit some serious girl power.  The females are huge and powerful, the males are piddly and small (typically 3/4 of an inch to the females inch and a half, see pic above).  Hee hee.  Last, they are stunning.  Really beautiful, don't you agree?

I'll try to introduce you to a few more 'Friends and Neighbors' over the next little bit.  As a teaser, the next edition of FaN will be about the 6 adorable puppies that are currently 20m away (squeeeeeee, puppies!!!!!).