Who is this beautiful green spider?

This lovely garden huntress is the Orchard Orb Weaver or Orchard Spider (Leucauge  venusta). 


Over the summer she spun her web from our deck to the nearby by tree. By the look of her, she was very well fed.  

Spiders consume an astonishing number of insects every year. According to Spiders of Toronto: A Guide to their Remarkable World:*
Spiders are estimated to eat about 200 kg of insects per hectare per
year. In a city the size of Toronto, this amounts to an astonishing 12
million kg of insects per year – equivalent to the body weight of over
150,000 average-sized people every year! Research shows that just
two of the spider species living at Highland Creek in Scarborough eat
2 of every 100 insects that develop in the creek. This includes large
numbers of mosquitoes. Multiply this estimate by the 40 or so other
spider species likely to live around the creek, and suddenly the impact
of spiders is clear. Spiders have a similar effect in gardens, where
they eat biting insects and pests, such as the aphids that frustrate city
gardeners. If spiders were to suddenly disappear, we would soon be
overwhelmed by insects.
This Orchard Spider, and any of other 70 species of spiders in Toronto (approximately), are welcome in our garden any time.

*The City of Toronto published a whole series of short books on the plants and animals we share out city with in honour of the United Nations Year of Biodiversity in 2010.  They're available at the library and online: https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/ravines-natural-parklands/biodiversity-in-the-city-2/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Clover lawn round #1 - Microclover

Clover lawn round #2 - Dutch white clover and sweet allysum

Clover lawn round #3 - mid summer and the clover is lush and green