Monkey face (also known as cat face or humpback; official name Araneus gemma), Jim found this large Orb Weaver spider in our yard in the Rio Grande Valley, October 19, photo © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
oh humpback spider
so ugly you are pretty
now leave me alone
here kitty kitty
tabby or a calico?
what strange eyes you have
Em wrote this haiku:
monkey face spider
spooky creepy and crawly
a halloween fright
NOTE: A search on “monkey face spider” will also turn up this and this. However, I did validate that the spider Jim found in our yard is, in fact, a “monkey face” spider.
According to Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, the A. gemma is “sometimes called the ‘cat-face’, ‘monkey-face’ or ‘humpback’ spider since it has a pattern of dark markings and raised areas on its back that seem face-like. Females of this spider are generally rounded with angular ‘shoulders’ and can reach a size exceeding a quarter. They make webs in undisturbed corners, often near porch lights, and are often found in late August and September around the eaves of houses… A. gemma hides in dark corners at the edge of the web during the day. She remains in contact with the web via a ‘trap-line’ thread that signals when insects have been ensnared.”
Jim found this spider under a cropping of overgrown juniper bushes. It was a large spider but not nearly as large as the Orb Weaver pictured in recent post Reflections On My Love Of Fall.
-related to post: haiku (one-a-day)
ybonesy, WOW. That is one huge spider. I love the whole monkey face/cat face thing going on on its body. Could that be what Monkey Mind really looks like? 8)
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Wow, that is an incredible spider, what an expression! To think it is really her “rear end” that has the face…The Orb Weaver you photographed is the biggest I have ever seen. That is a spooky Halloween find! Supposedly, no matter where you are on earth, indoors or out, you are no more than 3 feet from a spider.
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Yep, is was a big spider, but I tell you, it was not as big as the other one he found. Kind of scary to know that these humungous spiders are out there so close by. (And who knows what’s lurking inside the house….WAHHHHHH!)
QM, I think this is Monkey Mind. Egads.
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Thanks to chicklil for that bit about only being 3 feet from a spider at any given time. Not so sure I needed (or wanted) to know that bit of information. 🙂
It is a great spider, especially as I only have to encounter it in a photo. There is just something about spiders – creepy things, though very practical and indispensable as a part of nature.
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Whoa! That is a wicked looking spider and a great close-up photo! It looks like a creature from somewhere out there. LOL It does appear to have a cat face.
I once read that every person, sometime in their life, swallows a spider while sleeping.
I’m not fond of spiders but I’ll try to move a spider out of the house to the outside. I won’t kill a spider just because it is a spider and happens across my path. I found I can jump high if a spider jumps. 🙂
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Wow, Anna, swallowing a spider while sleeping? Dang. If I do, I sure hope it’s not the monkey-face orb!!
One of the monkey-face spider links was, I think, a big jumping spider. Could you imagine?!
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monkey cat spider
if you got it then flaunt it
but please don’t butt in
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LOL 8)
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diddy, I kind of see a pig face on the butt of that monkey spider. See where the snout kind of wrinkles up at the bottom. I see the cat, too, but I’m having a hard time making out the Monkey Face. I need to study it more.
Oh, ybonesy, you should add a Halloween tag to this post. Em’s haiku is great for the upcoming Holiday.
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What a face! It looks like a little person with a story it could tell. I like how each haiku explores a different aspect of the spider. And Em is in on the act! I’m glad she’s writing poems. *smiles*
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Ha, good one, diddy!
Hey, QM, Em also thought it looked like a pig face.
Yeah, Christine (as Frida in your avatar), Em really got into this one with me. She loves to write haiku. Oh, and QM, I will add the Halloween tag. Good idear.
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pig face was my first reaction too, but of course I’m partial to pigs! That’s one cool looking spider! D
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Whew! I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw a pig. I almost didn’t write it in the comment — but then, there it was, staring me in the face. 8)
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