The St Andrew's Cross spider (Argiope aurantia, known in North America as an argiope, a golden orb weaver, or a golden garden spider) is a very large and spectacular spider with black and yellow markings on its abdomen. The spider gained its name for its habit of spinning a web with a large white zigzag or cross in the centre of it. This is called the web stabilimenta and its function is unknown. The spider habitually sits in the centre of the web with its legs outstretched in the shape of a cross. The average orb web is practically invisible, and it is easy to blunder into one and end up covered with a sticky web. The very easily visible pattern of banded silk made by Argiope aurantia (and other spiders in her genus) is pure white, and the almost maximally visible spider sitting in the center is bright yellow on a field of black. Why is this spider asking to be seen? These spiders build their webs with their centers about belt high, so they are too low for anything much larger than a rabbit to walk under. It must be an advantage to the industrious web weaver, then, for the entire assemblage to be clearly visible and a bit threatening looking. It would be an interesting experiment to see whether animals such as deer walk around them if they are on their path. Needless to say, if a human or other rather large creature walks through a web, then the spider's weaving job is totally demolished. And, on top of that, the spider may be accidentally stepped on and killed.
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These spiders are spectacular and may be quite alarming if you aren't familiar with them, but they are not dangerous. Like most garden spiders they eat insects, and they are capable of consuming prey up to 200% of their size.

The male spider is much smaller than the female, and unassumingly marked. When it is time to mate it spins a companion web alongside the females. After it mates with the female, she then lays her eggs, places her egg sac in the web, and dies. The sac contains 400-1400 eggs. These eggs hatch in the autumn, but the spiderlings overwinter in the sac and emerge during the spring. The egg sac is composed of multiple layers of silk and designed to protect its contents from damage, but numerous species of insects have been observed to parasitise the egg sacs.

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