I found a very awesome spider down in the holler a couple of days ago. The first pictures I got were not that great because it was early in the morning and breezy. Yesterday I did the holler walk a little later in the day, and found her in the same place. The photos came out a little better.
After a long search, I located this species on BugGuide -- my go-to identification resource for insects -- and determined that it was one of the Orb Weavers, the Arrowshaped Micrathena (Micrathena sagittata).
This species builds its webs in open woods of the eastern United States and west to Texas and Nebraska. The females are about twice the size of males (Female 8-9mm, Male 4-5mm) and do not have spines on the abdomen. I believe this one is a female (compare to an identified female at BugGuide). I saw a couple of images that appeared to have spines in the center of the abdomen, but they were not identified by gender.
Here are some views from different angles:
This species is one of my new finds for 2011. Hurray for biodiversity!
