Help me identify this Freaky Looking Spider

OH! Don't kill it, it is a good spider, a female one at that, the men are a lot smaller haha, and they are more plain and don't have the intricate patterns- remember the females in spider world are dominant and beasty! haha. I forget the name unfortunately, but if I find a picture of the one that lives outside of my house I will definitely link it to you. No worries, it's a safe, harmless spider.

Ewww I don't know the Technical name.. but I would called it Ugly.. eww Hate spiders! Yikes!

Here's a picture of a banana spider, it looks like the one you have, just type in 'bananaspider & you'll get a good website...Lori

We had some spiders that hung around Our bushes for a while and they looked like the one in your picture. The trouble with trying to identify spiders is that you type in a name and come up with a lot of different pictures and shapes. I tried orb spider and there were fat ones skinny one and ones with long leg and some with short legs. But I think that the spider in your picture is an orb spider because of the web .

Well, we call them writing spiders round here. they are not poisonous. They are cool I think. We had one once that had babies and the babies made thier nest all over our garden.
It is funny you said it is no Charlotte. I have ALWAYS thought that Charlotte must have been a writing spider hence the reason she was able to 'write' in her web! lol

I don't know much about spiders. I know last summer we found some mutant wolf spider in our basement. It was huge, about 4 inches long and probably 4 inches around. Of course since I hate spiders that are close to the size of my small cat this thing was like a monster. Good Luck with you spider.

I cannot tell what kind of spider it is! If you really need help,

I will search for the answer!

Be right back.

I cannot see the photo yet as I am coming in through my emails, but I know for a fact that I will not be able to identify it as I am petrified of them. I think if he had been on my porch he would have been booted off by now!!

It must be worse for you as you have a lot of poisonous spiders where you are, in UK we do not have to worry so much about that thank goodness. I did have a weird spider in my garden the other week though, it looked like a spider crossed with a beetle and it was gross!

What you have there is a Black and Yellow Argiope spider, which is more commonly known as a Writing Spider, as a previous post said. Other common names include Yellow Garden Spider, Golden Orb-weaver, or Yellow Garden Orb-weaver. They like to eat in flying insects including wasps and other stinging insects, so they can be good to have around.

One way of identifying them is the distintive zigzag band that they spin above and below the ceter of the web. This reinforces their web and is how they got their name "Writing Spider". This spider is common throughout most of the 48 lower states.

This spider is not dangerous to humans. It takes a lot to make this spider bite you. They will only do so if they are severely provoked, so just brushing your hand accidently against it or something like that is unlikely to make it bite you. Even if it does bite, it isn't any more dangerous than a bee sting (usually bee stings are not a danger except for some people whio have an allergy to bees).

Ewwwww I hate spiders! I see you've found a name for it. I know I used to find that kind in my garden from time to time. One thing I'm always watching for now that I live in the south is tarantulas. Found 5 of them on my screen porch last year. And yes while I know they are harmless, I still killed them. I figure if it invades my territory its fair game. LOL