Nursery Web Spider

Subject:  Orange spider?
Geographic location of the bug:  Orleans MA
Date: 10/23/2021
Time: 01:41 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman :  We found this on the door of a storage unit in our yard.I’ve looked through lots of images online and can’t seem to identify it.
How you want your letter signed:  The Scott’s

Nursery Web Spider

Dear The Scott’s,
Usually when we get identification requests for orange spiders at this time of year, they are Pumpkin Spiders, a species of Orbweaver, but your spider is a Nursery Web Spider, Pisaurina mira.  Here is an image from BugGuide.  Nursery Web Spiders build webs to act as a nursery for their young, but unlike many spiders that also use a web to trap prey, the Nursery Web Spiders are hunting spiders that capture prey without a web.  The orange color of your individual is somewhat unusual, and it is possible this is a related species in the same genus.

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