ONH

Shamrock Orbweaver

Araneus trifolium

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    1 - A male Shamrock Orbweaver, Araneus trifolium, (left) approaches a female. Females are about 14 mm long, males about 8 mm long.

    09/14/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    2 - Shamrock Orbweaver male.

    09/14/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    3 - Shamrock Orbweaver female, dorsal.

    08/29/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    4 - Shamrock Orbweaver female, ventral.

    08/29/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    5 - Shamrock Orbweaver web, with the bower to the left.

    09/17/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    6 - Shamrock Orbweaver web, with the bower to the left, the same location as in slide 5. Orbweavers typically rebuild webs on a near daily basis, eating the silk from the old web. This photo shows the web about a week after slide 5.

    09/25/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    7 - Shamrock Orbweaver female in her bower.

    09/03/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    8 - The same Shamrock Orbweaver bower shown in slide 7.

    09/03/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    9 - Shamrock Orbweaver female in her bower.

    08/28/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    10 - Shamrock Orbweaver bower made of fresh leaves.

    08/30/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    11 - Shamrock Orbweaver female in the bower shown in slide 10.

    09/03/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

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    12 - Shamrock Orbweaver female in her bower made of fresh grass leaves and dried seed heads.

    09/03/2010 Heart O' the Hills Area, Olympic National Park, Washington

Araneus trifolium females build large webs, often suspended between two vertical plant stems. Webs often are suspended from a stout, horizontal strand of silk that can be several feet long. These spiders also make bowers—also, but less poetically, called “retreats”—ranging from simple to elaborate. The bower is usually about 1 meter off the ground, typically made of grass strands and/or seed heads tied together with silk, around 3 cm wide, and located to the side of the web.

The female’s large abdomen bears characteristic white spots that sometimes look like eyes.