home     galleries     new     equipment     links     about    contact


Western spotted orbweaver, Neoscona oaxacensis        Images © Mark A. Chappell

These elegantly-patterned orb-weaving spiders are probably Neoscona oaxacensis, the western spotted orb weaver.   One was photographed in mid-summer at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area near Riverside, California.   A friend found a group of these large, attractive spiders living semi-colonially in some oak trees in a parking lot near Riverside.

  • Canon 7D or 5D4; 70-200 F4 IS zoom with extension tubes, 100-400 MK. II zoom with extension tubes, or Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro lens, fill-in flash (2011, 2017)