Pu'er, Yunnan, China

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Being able to identify the key body parts of a spider may not make you an arachnologist, but it will make you a better pest management professional.

We love to walk in the garden and see the dew sparkling on them. But are they fairy tents or spider hideouts? Gardeners all know that it is a good thing to have spiders in your garden.

View more at Araneidae Checklist: Orb Weaver Spiders www.nickybay.com

Portia fimbriata is renowned as the world's most intelligent spider. It is a spider hunter which modifies its hunting strategies as it needs to.

Every October, professional photographers and researchers from the Arachtober group share amazing photos of spiders on social media. Here are a few stunning examples.

Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, in the Peruvian Amazon.

from Ecuador: www.flickr.com/andreaskay/albums

View On Black Garden Orb Weaving Spider, Eriophora sp. (Araneidae) Queensland Australia

Possibly male Caerostris darwini. It's 2 black spots are identical to the male Caerostris darwini, but the reference photos of Kuntner and Agnarsson (2010) show redder legs, whereas this spider has dark red/brownish abdomen. It's morphology does look similar. Found in a bush 20 metres north of the postoffice. Had a nice big web (not huge). Also some 20 metres away from the main river. I saw 2 spiders with larger webs over the river, but I could not get to them in order to photograph them. This spider was one of the reasons to go to Madagascar. Caerostris darwini builds the largest and strongest spider webs in the world with a web spanning some 20+ metres! This spider has only recently been discovered and described in 2010. Those kind of facts always blow my mind. Next day, it's web wasn't there anymore. Heavy rainfall (although the web should have survived that) or more likely a location too close to a main route, with lots of cars and people in the same area accidentally breaking webs. Update 2016: In 2016 scientists discovered male Caerostris darwini spiders perform oral sex on the females 'up to 100 times' per encounter. Read more about it here: www.livescience.com/54653-spider-oral-sex-observed.html