Book Review: Orb-Weaver Spiders by Joanne Randolph, in Nightmare Creatures: Spiders! Series Title #4

Orb-weaving spiders feed upon:

• bees;
• beetles;
• flies;
• mosquitoes;
• moths; and
• wasps.

They get fed by:

• biting;
• immobilizing within silken wraps;
• injecting chemicals to liquefy animal interiors; and
• sipping in ways recalling arthropods removing plant sap (phloem and xylem).

They have to elude such predators as:

• birds;
• frogs;
• insects (especially praying mantises);
• monkeys; and
• spiders.

The predator - prey food chain generally is conducive to orb-weaving spiders':

• nocturnal life cycles; and
• solitary natural histories, excepting the communal webs of the group-dwelling genus Metepeira and the mating cohabitations of furrow spiders.

Females join 100 to 1,400 eggs in each of one to three silken sacs. Scientists know that spiderlings hatch well after their mother's demise and with web-making skills.

Preferences for herbaceous and woody foliage within extra-polar backyards, forests, and gardens in moist climates and survival amid desert succulents in dry climates let orb-weaving spiders occupy ecological niches as:

• beneficial arachnids whose webs defend branches and stems from defoliation-minded pests and draw pollination-motivated insects to flowering plants;
• environmental obligates and keystone species whose bite and venom harm crop-ravaging beetles and disease-carrying mosquitoes;
• predators whose feeding patterns control arthropod levels; and
• prey whose internal fluids and tissues sustain amphibian, arachnid, avian, and mammalian populations.

Orb-weaving spiders indeed manage food consumption and storage around set-points beyond which behaviors model catch and release, not hoard and hunt. They nudge out web-damaging butterflies once communal or individual needs are met. 

The PowerKids Press-released Orb-Weaver Spiders occurs as The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. of New York's Nightmare Creatures: Spiders! Series #4. It proceeds:

• after #1's Black Widow Spiders, #2's Crab Spiders, and #3's Jumping Spiders; and 
• before #5's Tarantulas and #6's Wolf Spiders.

Third- to seventh-graders aged 8 to 12 years query orb-weaving spiders in 24 culturally enriching, educationally entertaining pages divided into 10 chapters, glossary and index thanks to: 

• designer Andrew Povotny;
• editors Norman D. Graubart, Jennifer Way;
• photographers Peter Arnold, Paul Baggaley, Jan Beard, Paul Bertner, Phlippe Blanchot, Brandon Blinken berg, Anders Blomqvist, Jason Edwards, Richard Fellinger, Henrik Larsson, Michael Lustbader, Laszlo Podor, Ron Rowan, Charles O. Slavens, Pan Xunbin;
• researcher Katie Stryker;
• writer Joanne Randolph.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

General distribution of Orb-Weaver Spiders
drawn after World Spider Catalog 7.0, maintained until 2014 by Norman Ira Platnick (December 30, 1951-April 8, 2020): Sarefo, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Distribution.araneidae.1.png

orb weaver spiderlings huddled together
Shields-Reid neighborhood, Richmond, western Contra Costa County, East Bay region, California: nick fullerton (nickton), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/18203311@N08/5663487204/

Yellow Spiked Orb Weaver spider (Gasteracantha falcicornis)
Mecúfi District, Cabo Delgado Province, northern Mozambique: Ton Rulkens (tonrulkens), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/47108884@N07/6867292401/

Macro of Orchard Orb Weaver (Leucauge venusta): in real life, the spider equates to the size of a fly.
Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, southern Maryland: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (Sam Droege), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/9132117018/

Silver Argiope spider (Argiope argentata) immature female on stabilimentum (web decoration)
Function of orb-weaver spiders' stabilimentum is unknown but is hypothesized to attract prey and to minimize web damage.
Deerfield Beach, Broward County, southeastern Florida: JonRichfield, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Argiope_argentata_immature_female_on_stabilimentum_IMG_4281.JPG

female Argiope aurantia with typical zigzag web: commonly known as yellow garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, or corn spider
Argiope aurantia spiders are found spinning their orb webs in southern Canada, U.S.'s Lower 48, Hawaii, Mexico, and Central America.
south central Mississippi: Art Martin, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Argiope_aurantia_(female).JPG

Randolph, Joanne. 2014. Orb-Weaver Spiders. PowerKids Press: Nightmare Creatures: Spiders! Series Title #4. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.