Yellow garden spider

I went with friends yesterday morning to Devine (Nature) Preserve in Washtenaw County.  Oak savanna forest (some very big oaks!) and meadows dominated by sweet Joe-pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) and goldenrod (several kinds).  There is, apparently, a marshy area also, but this was inaccessible.  Cattails were visible, but it has been so hot and dry that the marshy part was likely quite dry.   

We saw several good things, but this may have been the main attraction for me.  My friends had seen many before. 

Yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) 

As is true for most species of spiders, females are larger than males.  I am just assuming that our spider was a female.  It was about two plus inches long from tip of front legs to hind legs.  My friend has created her own meadow on her property and has seen several of these in her meadow.  The "corkscrew appearing" web is called a stabilimentum and is unique to this spider.  The function is not fully known.  It may be so that birds and other creatures can see the web and avoid running into it. 

Apparently, in the right habitat this is a common spider, but it was my very first time seeing it.  The important thing to know about the yellow garden spider is that it is highly beneficial catching and eating several types of pests.  If you have one, or two or three, in your garden or meadow, leave it alone!  It is doing good work.  It is completely harmless to humans.  A truly stunning orb-weaver spider. 

I was reminded of the female Golden Silk orb-weaver spiders (Nephila clavipes) that I saw in Panama in 2016.  Male Golden Silk orb-weaver spiders were tiny in comparison.      

I was also reminded of a relatively recent New Yorker book review by Kathryn Schulz titled An Arachnophobe Pays Homage to the Spider, February 10, 2025, in which she reviews the book The Lives of Spiders (Princeton), by Zimena Nelson.  If you are, like Kathryn Schulz, an arachnophobe (a very common affliction), or a arachnoid lover (yes, they do exist), you can pick this book up for a good price at a variety of on-line used bookstores.  Then, again, if you are an arachnoid lover you probably already have it.

I wouldn't say that I'm an arachnophobe, but I would not like to look down and find a yellow garden spider with it's eight legs trying for a foothold on the front of my fleece or sweater.  But I am very happy that the yellow garden spider is amongst us and just trying to do its job.  It was thrilling to see.