Moment in Nature: Spiders
"Sunday Morning" showed viewers today, just a few days before a Halloween, a spider weaving a web in which to catch its prey. The footage was by videographer Carl Mrozek.
The specimen pictured is a Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia), which can be found across half of the United States, and as far south as Costa Rica. They are most frequently spotted in late summer and early autumn.
This species has three claws per foot (most spiders have two), and a powerful venom that can immobilize the unfortunate insects that get caught in its web.
Their webs can be up to two feet across. After they're constructed, the spider will wait in the center, and can sense via vibrations when an aphid or other insect has become trapped. But the spiders themselves are prey for birds, wasps, and lizards.
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