Spiderman

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This is the giant jumping spider.  If you get too close it will leap onto your face, crawl up your nose and eat your brain.  Just kidding.  I made that up to see if you're paying attention.  

Meet Argiope aurantia – commonly known at the yellow garden spider.  It’s rather distinctive with the yellow stripes and thus easily identified.  Common to gardens, farms, fields and forest edges we found this one hanging-around by the corner of the garage.  

A member of the orb-weaver family of spiders the web is eaten and rewoven each day except for periods of time occupied by molting or egg-laying.   Prey includes insects that jump or fly into the web including large meals like grasshoppers.  This spider is capable of taking small lizards if available. 

This is an annual species with the male dying following mating and the female dying with the approach off winter.  Nevertheless, the female will lay a number of egg sacs – each containing as many as 1200 eggs.  The eggs hatch and the tiny spiderlings overwinter within the protective confines of the sac to emerge the following spring.