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Species
Eriophora pustulosa or communally known as the Common Garden Orb-weaver spider belongs the Spider  Family Araneidae and are native to New Zealand.

The common orb spider which is originally from Australia is one of the most common orb spiders in New Zealand.

Description
Eriophora pustulosa is found in a variety of colours, commonly found in shades of browns and greys. It is also found in brightly coloured yellows and can be a range of whites, browns and blacks with even brighter colours green yellow or an orange. It will often have white speckled spots throughout its colouring, and can be identified by its five knobs that are found on its abdomen. The knob patterns consist of two large ones are on the highest point of the back and three smaller ones at the end of its abdomen. Occasionally they sometimes have a couple of other smaller ones in the end group. The common orb is a small to medium sized spider with a body length up to 12 mm They have a heart shaped sternum which could also be triangular in shape depending on the species. The eye set consists of eight eyes in total, in two rows of four. The lateral eyes are separated by the larger median eyes. The ability for this spider to have successfully maintain a number of habitat areas may be due to its ability to blend in with its surrounding with its different colours and patterns

Distribution
Eriophora pustulosa is found in many gardens throughout New Zealand. It is also found in the Chatham Islands, Australia and subantarctic areas. It is the most common orbs found throughout New Zealand. It is found in many areas around New Zealand, especially garden areas around buildings. It is also seen around farmlands and on the edge of bush habitats. It is thought that the common orb arrived here is from the air currents from Australia travelling by Ballooning. Ballooning is a common occurrence by the newly hatched spiderlings. When releasing their silk, the air currents carry them into the air which can be great distances Eriophora pustulosa is rarely found in dense forest areas of New Zealand but have been found in remote areas tramping areas in huts.

Life cycle
The male spider is smaller than the females and does not live as long as the much larger female. The male spider will enter a females web once reaching maturity for reproduction, after mating the male spider will die shortly after During mating the male will look for a female they dangle a long thread for a period of time. Breeding continues throughout winter months.

Eriophora pustulosa spider has an eggs sac that is messy and tuff like with wiry threads. The egg sac is colour resembles a grey-green colour

Mating has not been recorded with Eriophora pustulosa, though it is possible that very small males may successfully mate with the female without her aware of the males presence. However, many would need to attract the female by sending a signal of vibrations from strumming at the females web. He does this carefully as the wrong approach could result as the male becoming the females prey. He may need to repeat the signal multiple times and drop from her web out of her reach if she shows aggression. After successful encouragement, the male then makes a mating thread, to which he invites the female where the female will hang motionless during mating.

The is male is roughly two thirds smaller than the female. When ready the female will lay her eggs in an eggsac often in foliage areas or around buildings. At the start the egg mass is brown in colour then turning to a green. When the spiderlings usually hatch around 3 weeks they usually remain in the nest for at least one week. Eventually the spiderlings will leave the nest, before they leave the nest they will have gone through two moulting cycles.

Interactions
The common orb spider is creates the classic cartwheel shape web. The female orb spider makes large webs, these webs are much bigger than the smaller males web The webs are are built vertically and is made with silk, often spiders will recycle the silk into a new web. Orb webs are sticky as they also possess small drops of a viscous glue.

The orb spider build highly successful prey catching webs, most orb web spiders construct their webs in the evening. Evening is when they are the most active. However, if weather is in their favour of overcast days they may also do work to the web during this time. During the day the spider will rest in typical resting position with its knees drawn inwards. The spider will rest hidden with one leg resting on a thread which signals the spider if an insect has been caught in its web.

As it is a web building spider it feels the vibrations in its web for when a possible prey is caught. When the signal line has been triggered the orb will move towards the web and pull at the signal line to give it an indication on the location of the insect. With the use of the non sticky lines that are within the web the spider can access it Prey that is caught in the web of the orb is bound in silk by the spider which is then bit by the spider a number of times. It is then left wrapped for feeding later. By feeling the vibrations they can tell if the prey that is caught is a possible predator to the spider and may release its catch from the web.

During the evening the spider will sit in the middle of its web waiting for its prey Once the prey is trapped the spider wraps it in silk, this reduces the struggling of the prey and it will eat it at its own leisure.

Diet prey & predators
The orb will eat a variety of flying insects that get caught in their web It competes against a variety of other spider species such the white porch spider and Zealaranea prina. New Zealand mantis and European mantis also compete for food with the common orb

German wasps Vespula germanica and Mason wasps Pison spinolae are both predators' of the Eriophora pustulosa they will attack the spider, though the two wasp have different requirements when attacking the common orb. The German wasp feed directly on the orb web spider. German wasps have been recorded directly removing the spiders from their nest, and returning later to the same web to find further prey. German wasps fly directly in and capture their prey swiftly.

Where as the female mason wasp will use its stinger to paralyse the spider, once paralyses the wasp will take it back to its nest. After the wasp will place the spider inside a mud-walled chamber where she has built a nursery. After she will lay her egg, once the grub hatches it will consumes the living spider.

Trite mustilina and Opisthoncus polyphemus both species of the jumping spider also feeds on the orb spider.