I came across this spider in Orlando, but don’t worry I have only seen one in about 15 years that I have been going to Florida. If anybody knows what it is or if it’s dangerous please let me know.
The one below was about as big as my hand, so pretty big compared to most spiders you see around the house.
The one below I saw a few weeks ago while at a friends house.
VR360 | Florida Vacation Rentals 
I just took a pic. of one that looks almost like it. It’s up on the top of the outside window so I couldn’t get too close. The web is almost identical! The body looks like the spots are closer together. I took a photo of it.
Forgot to tell you that I live in Hudson, Fl. My husband is going outside to look up closer to see if it has the yellow spots on the side.
Yes, it’s the exact spider. I’m going to leave it alone cause I hope it eats enough mosquitoes and flies! I’ll be checking on the internet to see if I can find out what kind of spider it is. This one’s body is almost 1″ long and has the longest legs I’ve ever seen!
It’s a black and yellow argiope. It is not dangerous, the bite would be like a bee sting. Also called the “writing spider” because of the x’s it weaves in the web.
Just read your reply Dianne, thank you for the input. I have one that just appeared in my back yard that has an “X” in the middle of it’s web and is in position with the “X” as it’s legs are hidden with the “X”. But the color looks Black and white with a spot or spots on it’s back. I am going to take some pictures and try to identify it. I like the fact that it is here to eat the mosquitoes.
Donald
West Lake Worth, Florida
yes it is a black and yellow argiope spider, very common in florida but not dangerous. i just caught one today on my front porch. huge and intimidating but i still will not mess with it.
We are currently staying in a villa in orlando, have just seen the same spider. But also a red and green spider its quite small but its colouring worried us.
has anybody got any information on it?
is it poisonous??
many thanks
The green and red spiders are Orchard spiders. They are also not dangerous. The only two species of dangerous spiders in Florida that i know of are the Black and Brown Widows and the Brown Recluse spiders.
brown recluse in the western panhandle
my family and me just moved down to Fl from up north were it’s to cold for anything to big or dangeres to live so i was wondering if anyone could help me in what kinda spiders i should watch out for. i have already been biten by a small house spider nothing bad but i still worry about what else that could bite me. we live in Orlando so any information would be great.
thanks
black widow brown widow red widow brown recluce (rare)
Black widows are about it unless you are in the Western Panhandle. According to the folks at poison control & the USDA we do NOT have Brown recluse spiders in Florida . . . period. Only problem is that someone forgot to tell the brown recluse that because they are here (when you look at the govt’s map, it shows their range to end just north of the FL line & for some reason the lady I spoke with & whoever the ER doc talked to were 100% certain the spiders would not cross that imaginary line). About 3 years after we moved to the area just North of Pensacola, I was moving hay in a friend’s horse barn & thought I had got a piece of hay in my glove when I felt something pinch my wrist. Within 2 hours, I had a beautiful white ring around the bite & by the next morning, the center was turning grey/black, the white ring was still there & a red line was working its way up my arm. Beat a path to the Navy hospital ER & they sent me to the gen surg clinic. Luckily for me, there was a reservist Dr. there from the Virginia area who had seen & treated numerous brown recluse bites. He got it all cleaned out & got rid of the venom globule in the center & now I just have a thumbnail-sized scar & a good story. I never even saw the spider, which the doctor said was the norm with brown recluse bites because they are so shy.
it’s a “writing spider” named because of the white part of the web that looks zig zagy & not dangerous. They are garden spiders & eat insects.
umm haha yea i just saw one out side on my wall. so i came to look it up. but yea im not as smart as the rest of u because i was to fascinated and chase then put it in a box lol then again i love spiders so if anyone finds out any thing more please tell me cause its in a box lol. my email is {armyrainbabe64@yahoo.com} thank you
Wow was looking up a villa/home for my brother’s vacation and stumbled across your blog. Just sent him your picture…cool
Spiders are very commonly seen during late summer. Probably the most common type is the orb weaving spiders, family Araenidae. As their name suggests, they produce vertical, flat, round webs with strands radiating out from the center, much like a bicycle tire. This is one of the biggest groups of spiders with species found in many sites, including around homes and in yards and gardens. Many residents have encountered these spiders throughout Minnesota during August and September this year.
Most orb weaving spiders are moderate in size and brownish, like a barn spider, although some species such as the marble spider are brightly colored (colorful species are often orange or yellow). The black and yellow argiope is large, with a one inch long body, and is brightly colored yellow and black. Like most spiders, orb weaving spiders possess eight small eyes, four in the center forming a box and a pair on the right and another on the left. Orb spiders have poor vision although they are able to detect slight differences in changes in light.
These spiders do not rely on vision to capture prey but use the vibrations they detect in their webs to alert them when they have captured something. Orb weaving spiders will wrap up their prey in silk then carry them away to the hub of their web or to a secure retreat to eat them at their convenience. Nocturnal orb weaving spiders may choose to take down and eat their web in the morning and then rebuild it the next evening. Orb weaving spiders that are active during the day similarly may reconstruct their nest in the morning.
Orb weaving spiders are harmless to people and should be left alone. It is tempting to say ignore them but you should take the opportunity to watch these fascinating creatures. And they are quite photogenic for anyone with a camera. At any rate, they will die on their own as the weather becomes colder.
I saw one at the hotel i stayed at in Jacksonville, FL it was between 2 palm trees in a web and it was light yellow,black,and light green. I also took a picture of it with my camera.
its a banana spider and yeah their poisonus so i wouldent mess with them and they can get pretty nasty
Its not a banana spider.
i seen the same one in my back yard,what kind is this??
I went hiking in Bloomingdale, Fl today and photographed more than a dozen of these. A friend told me they are called golden orb spiders, but I am pretty sure it is a banana spider. They will bite if you mess with them, but they aren’t venomous. Just scary big.
The pictures that this post asks about are garden spiders, also known as “writting spiders”. No they are not really a concern. Though they have been known to bite people when they are being messed with, they are no more venemous than a common bee sting.
These are not “banana spiders, the spiders known as “banana spiders” in Florida are not true banana spiders. True banana spiders are in fact deadly, but they are not local to FL. These spiders are generally found in South America and are called banana spiders because they live in banana trees and generally bite people when they are placing the bananas in the boxes to ship them out or picking the bananas.
The “banana spiders” of FL are huge web weaving spiders that have white heads similar to the garden spiders. The difference is the web is yellow, where they got their name, and they don’t look appealing at all. These are not harmfully poisonous either and generally won’t bite despite their harsh appearance.
However, if you are biten by a larger spider such as these it is recommeded to seek medical care due to the fact that they are larger. This is also recommended because of what spider venom does, it breaks down the prey, and though it is not deadly – the wound could be end up quit unappealing.
i have one on my boat traler that suck is huge
Some years ago when buying fruit, I picked up a hand of bananas to break when our popped a ‘mammoth’ spider. I am afraid I didn’t stop to really look at it but from the glimpse I had it wasn’t as pretty or as delicately marked as yours, just black, huge and ugly!
Ive lived in florida my whole life and we also call them Banana spiders.. They came originally from Costa Rica. They ARE poisonous, but not deadly… if not treated after a bite it will eat the skin away around the bite area…
We have been watching this same kind of spider on our back porch for two weeks now. It has grown so fast!! I’m glad I know what it is now, I was worried but couldn’t bring my self to kill it.
I found one on the outside of my screen porch. I noticed how big it got so fast! Now I know that it is not threatening to my family, I will leave it alone. I also noticed the web. It looks identical to the pics posted here. It catches a lot of bugs, so she is welcome to stay. 🙂 Unlike the giant black widow I found with and egg sack on the inside of my back porch!
I have two of those writing spiders out in my garden. They are huge. I don’t want to mess with them or hurt them if they are beneficial to the garden. But my neighbor wants to cut his hedges and he can’t get to do that due to where they have spun their webs.
It’s just an orb weaver.. Garden spider quite common.Harmless,yet beautiful in it’s own right..Very different web they weave.!!
I just took a picture of this creature about 5 minutes ago, came in the house and found this site. Thanks for the info. My spider has made a giagantic web outside my living room window, but looks like he made an adjoining web that connects to the screen porch. Personally I’m horrified of spiders bigger than a match head. This bad boy is huge. My web also has the zig zag pattern. At the moment he has something captured in the web, but don’t know what. I’m amazed I had the nerve to get close enough to take the picture. Should I just leave it alone? It won’t get cold here for a while
my step son was sleeping and he saw one out his window it was about the size of a red prty cup
Stories seem to repeat themselves, I too have found one of these spiders in my back porch. Took a picture and looked up on google to see if they are poisonous. They are quite breath taking. I guess I shouldn’t worry according to all the positive feedback of this remarkable creature..
Just saw one of these outside a window in Wesley Chapel FL. It has been working on an interesting spiral shaped web for some time now. Very large spider. Glad to hear it is not dangerous.
I have in shrubs outside my door in Bonita Springs FL. Very pretty, neat webb also glad to hear they are not dangerous.
I have this spider on my back porch. Can’t bring myself to kill it, however it has what looks like three round (egg?) sacks . Don’t want themn to hatch all over the place. What do I do with it? Help!
cool i saw one in florida
too scary looking…good for them im too scared to get close enough to kill lol but i wouldnt kill them anyway…i dont want no bad spider juju lol…there r lots of them in the treeline/brush at the very back of our yard…..NOT BANANA SPIDERS….that much i do know…
In nova Scotia we have them and I’ve looked them up to find out that they are called ‘Orb spiders ‘. Although not as big as an adult hand, they have the same markings (some purple where you see the yellow on this one) and spin the same style web. It is thought that they make the thick zig zag to sway birds from flying into it’s web. Harmless, nothing more than a sting if bitten.
As most spiders stay away from it a nickname is the bannanna spider but they are not very poisounous
this is banana spider coul kill you if you are old or small baby if your body dont carry antybodys to protec from poison
this is not a banana spider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_aurantia
http://www.wildflorida.net/gallerydetails.aspx?id=2870d2c3-361a-4f6b-bbb2-47a636478ab7
You decidedly put a new spin on a subject that’s been written about for years. Great stuff, just great! I enjoy reading a post that will make people think, thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well.
I have a beautiful black and yellow argiope spider in a palm tree in my back yard in pompano beach, fl. This is the first time I ever saw one. Glad to know it’s not poisonous. I’m fascinated by it and I’ll leave it alone. I won’t tell my wife about it. She’ll want me to kill it. I’m growing pineapples in my yard also and i’d like to know what spiders and insects to look out for that might damage the plants or the fruit.