Search Results - Field Guide

Missouri's Araneus spiders, called angulate and roundshouldered orbweavers, can be hard to identify to species. Most have camouflage patterns, and they all make characteristic, delicate, wheel-shaped webs to catch prey.

Trashline orbweavers decorate their small, circular webs with an unimpressive line of insect husks and other debris. The small orbweaver rests at the hub within this line of garbage, looking like just another bit of trash.

The featherlegged orbweaver has two very long forelegs that, when held together, look like a tiny twig resting in the circular web. When they’re held apart, the spider looks like a little V.

The arabesque orbweaver is a common orb-weaving spider in Missouri. The coloration is quite variable, but the slanting dark marks on the abdomen help to identify it.

Armored harvestmen have spines on their fingerlike mouthparts (pedipalps). Unlike other harvestmen, members of this suborder of so-called daddy longlegs do not usually have long legs.

One of three micrathena spiders in Missouri, the arrowshaped micrathena is small but unforgettable. Females have striking reddish, black, and yellow colors, and a pair of outward-pointing tubercles at the end of the body give it a triangular or "arrow" shape.

The openfield orbweaver is a common nocturnal orb-weaving spider in Missouri.