Hard to miss this "little" beauty. Not so little, actually, at almost two inches long in the body. I encountered it, a black and yellow "garden spider" (Argiope Aurantia), this morning cleaning up a trumpet vine that had long ago overtaken several Nandina bushes along the wooden fence on the upper forty. All the rain we’ve had this summer finally weighed the vine down so much that it collapsed onto the deck around the pool. So I had to cut it way back, and in the process discovered this cutie, sometimes called a "writer spider" in Texas. Although they are said to be harmless, I maintained a respectful distance. For more on it, go here.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 