Larinioides cornutus or more commonly known as the furrow orb weaver spider is the critter currently occupying the campus of University Wisconsin Superior.
You can find this species of spiders constructing their webs on tall buildings such as the dorm halls here on campus like Curren-McNeil.
Furrow orb weaver spiders hanging outside of Holden. | Photo by Jon Pearson
These creepy crawlies also tend to live near bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, and streams which adequately describes the Lake Superior area.
According to Wildlife Heritage Foundation, the furrow orb weaver spiders are easily identified by three distinct features. The first is their comically large oval-shaped abdomen that looks very tick like in nature.
The second identifier is the pattern on the carapace, or shell, of the spider. This pattern looks like arrows pointing towards where the head and the body connect on the spider.
The third identifier is the length of the legs. Furrow orb weaver spiders have longer front legs and shorter back legs. The size of the spider’s body and legs can also help identify the sex of the spider.
The larger the body, the more of a chance it is a female spider. For comparison, the male furrow orb weaver body is quite small. On average males’ body measures at seven millimeters. Meanwhile, female’s body tend to measure around ten millimeters. The legs for both sexes range from eighteen to thirty-five millimeters.
Furrow orb weaver spider. | Photo by Jon Pearson
If you are totally freaked out by just the thought of spiders, here is the good news: this species is completely harmless to humans and will flee at any small inconvenience a human makes for them.
Furrow orb weaver spiders can also help keep pests away. If you’re lucky enough you might even catch a glimpse of our arachnid friends liberating the world of annoying flies or mosquitoes on your way to class. To help digest their food they secrete digestive fluid onto their prey and suck the fluid and the meat of their prey back into their mouth. Eventually what’s left behind is a fragile exoskeleton.
But with a lifespan as short as 2 years, or even shorter if you prematurely end it. These creepy crawlies will bunk down with students, tuition free, just long enough to watch this year’s incoming freshmen receive their associate degrees.
