Charlotte's Web

Scientific Name: Neoscona crucifera
Common Name: Orb-weaver (Orb refering to a circular object ---hence the spider's web shape).

How can someone not love the spider that saved Wilbur's life in "Charlotte's Web." If Fern learned to love the Orb-weaver spider, I'm pretty sure anyone can do the same.
There are alot of people (especially females) who are terrified of spiders, but I've always wondered why the fright. Yes, they have eight legs, they catch their dinner in their webs, and they create their own living space; These living spaces --webs-- are the most intriguing thing about spiders.
Orb-weaver spiders are one of the three largest spider groups from the family of Araneidae, which is very diverse. The spiders vary in color [bright colors], size, and shape, but all consist of two rows with four eyes on each. You may think they have 20/20 vision;however, they have really bad vision and rely on the vibrations of the web as a alarm for food and predators.
Orb-weavers possess four spinnerets, which help them produce different textures of silk: non-stick silk for the radial web lines, sticky silk for the spiraling strands, and sometims even ultraviolet silk to attract insects. When vertically building their webs, Orb-weavers attach their strands to basically anything ranging from manmade ojects to stems, creating these sometimes massive webs that are several feet in width.
The oldest evidence of these spiders originated during the Jurassic period and the oldest known true orb-weaver is Mesozygiella dunlopi, from theLower Cretaceous. Several fossils show that there were three major orb weaving families: Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Uloboridae, which have evolved about 140 million years ago and all have the common origin.

Fun Facts:
- Males, who are much smaller than the females, spend most of their time trying to find a mate;however, the females await for a male to impregnant them, so they can later eat the male as her next meal. Talk about marital issues.
- When female spiders lay several hundreds of eggs in they fall, they wrap the sack in thick silk because she knows she will die from the first frost of the winter, leaving her eggs to be hatched in spring. What a Mom!
- Orb-weavers are carnivores and those weavers who are large enough can consume a hummingbird or frog.
- When a orb-weaver's prey is caught on her web, she uses her venom to paralyze them, making it much easier to digest.

Orb-weavers can be found everywhere except cold areas such as the Artic and Antartic regions. In North America, there are approx. 180 species of the weaver.