Credit: Michelle Gabel

Hundreds of baby orb weaver (Araneidae) spiders, fresh out of their egg sac, huddle together on orchard grass during late spring in Central New York.

Dr. Linda S. Rayor, a Cornell University Department of Entomology arachnid expert, explains that these spiderlings have just experienced their first instar, or molt, after hatching from a sac laid last fall by their mother, who likely died over winter.

Dr Rayor says females may lay multiple sacs of 200 to 400 eggs in the fall and the young emerge in the spring, remaining together a week or less in most cases. The baby spiders disperse using silk strands they produce themselves and balloon into the atmosphere or along the tops of plants using the silk as the tail of a kite.

“Why would anyone be curious about orb weavers? Well, I would say when anyone thinks about spiders, the first thing that comes to mind is an orb web glinting in the sun or the web with small drops of dew in the morning,” Rayor says. ”They are stunning, amazing architects of complex webs that they don’t learn from Mom, but have the biology to know how to do it.”

Orb weavers grow gradually and molt several times until reaching adulthood. Spiders, classified as arachnids, not insects, are related to scorpions, mites and ticks. Spiders come in many shapes, sizes, colors and forms and are found throughout New York State.

You can see Dr. Rayor talk about arachnids here:

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Michelle Gabel is a Syracuse-based independent photojournalist who captures the human experience through documentary photography and portraiture. Her long-form photography projects tell complex, contemporary...