What kind of spider is this?

[blurredvision]

Found this massive beast hanging out on the backside of my pool. Thing just gives me the willies looking at it.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/blurredvision/photo2.jpg

I was curious as to what it was, origin, is it poisonous, etc.

EDIT: For reference, that thing is about 4" from top to bottom. Huge sucker.

 

[zinfamous]

regular old garden spider. let it live, it eats more bothersome bugs.

....and how the hell do you live this long not being able to recognize the only TWO POISONOUS spiders that are native to the US?

 

[MikeMike]

We used to have some big ass yellow spiders outside of my parents house when i was younger (no clue where they went to) but they were atleast the length of a quarter (body size) and would spin 2' wide webs...

being kids, i would walk around the yard find some grasshoppers and throw them into the web... damn was that fun and totally awesome to watch.

 

[kt]

I don't know, but throw it in a fire.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Looks like a St John's Cross spider... They get damn big here.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd say a garden spider, but it doesn't look quite the same as the ones I've seen in the past. Non poisonous.

 

[blurredvision]

regular old garden spider. let it live, it eats more bothersome bugs.

....and how the hell do you live this long not being able to recognize the only TWO POISONOUS spiders that are native to the US?

Meh, not much of an outdoors-man I guess. I know one has a red hourglass or something on its belly, right?

 

[mcurphy]

We always called those Banana Spiders. A quick search on google images for banana spiders shows some very similar looking spiders.

 

[Wyndru]

Is that a real picture? It looks odd to me, like a screenshot from a video game or something.

 

[spidey07]

Those guys are cool and build HUGE webs. I've got a huge spider on my deck and I enjoy watching him build a web every night. He anchors it to a tree some 15 feet away, how he does it I'll never know.

 

[MikeMike]

Those guys are cool and build HUGE webs. I've got a huge spider on my deck and I enjoy watching him build a web every night. He anchors it to a tree some 15 feet away, how he does it I'll never know.

Fucking Spiders, How do they work?

 

[spidey07]

Fucking Spiders, How do they work?

I believe the process starts via a set of special organs in the abdomen that make silk and the spider can control if it's sticky or not.

I just shoot the shit outta my wrists.

 

[BoomerD]

NOT poisonous...but nearly ALL spiders ARE venomous...but that venom isn't toxic (at least in the dose they use) to us humans.

I find LOTS of yellow & black striped spiders...some that look very much like that one, but aren't listed as being in the USA...

Yours looks quite a bit like this one:

So I'm going to guess that it's one of the many argiope species. That one is Argiope trifasciata.

I'm not quite sure why, but the search term "black and yellow striped spiders" brings this result...

 

[Wyndru]

^ That is my favorite spider.

 

[NFS4]

Ask syringer.