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St Andrews Cross

Saint Andrew's Cross Spider

During their lifespans these spiders weave varying sizes of cross into their wheel shaped webs. This is the most prominent and complete version I have spotted so far and is unusual

At the moment there are dozens of this type of spider in my small garden and only one or two are showing the cross design. The complexity of the cross in the photo to the right is very rare and I have only seen it once or twice in this garden in several years

The web to the left is more typical of the type of web seen mostly in my bromeliad patch. It is possible the birds have worked out that the crosses mean food and only the non-cross webs are surviving

More common than the upper version of complete cross (still rare) is this partial cross (right)

There are a number of theories about the reason these spiders weave a cross into their web. One is that when the spider takes it,s place at the centre with it's legs splayed it looks too big for birds to attack. Another theory is that birds and other large flying creatures may fly through the web if there was no large visual warning'

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