Can you tell me what kind of green spider this is? It is not a green lynx spider?

Question

Can you tell me what kind of spider this is? And is it dangerous to humans? I was in the appalachian mountains in Virginia about a half hour from Galax when I found this spider. We camp there every summer and I found it under our camper stairs. It is a green spider with a silky shine to it. I caught it to take a few pictures of it, then I let it go. It is quite pretty actually. My camera is not good at picking up detail but I hope you can still tell me from these photos what it is.

Thanks very much,
From Hideous Troll

I have more photos of it if you need more to look at.

link to photo of spider......

http://img10.picsplace.to/18/Green_spider_vacation_in_Virginia_july-August_2006_061_000.jpg

Answer 1

It looks like Araneus bicentenarius, the giant lichen orb weaver.

It's in a group of spiders generally known as the angulate orb-weavers, refering to the pointy 'shoulders' on the large abdomen of the female.

These spiders, and their close relatives are very common spiders across North America, Europe and Asia, found in virtually every garden and backyard. They are the ones that build those large, round webs that everyone thinks of as 'the' spider web.

They are completely harmless. In fact they are quite beneficial, eating all manner of flying and hopping insect, including flies, wasps and many of the critters we consider pests (they don't do well on moths and butterflies though, whose scaly wings allow them to escape capture in the web).

The famous and much-beloved Charlotte from Charlotte's Web would have been a spider from this same genus.

Although it is theoretically possible for these spiders to bite a human, they are quite docile, and it would take quite a lot of provocation, and probably physical injury to the spider to actually get them to bite. I've had hundreds, if not thousands of these spiders crawl on my hands and arms, and have never been so much as nibbled.

Even if a human were bitten, their venom is intended for use against flies and other invertebrates, and is not effective against mammals, particularily large ones like us. The bite might cause some burning and itching, but unless someone happens to be allergic (highly unlikely), it would likely be less severe than a wasp sting, probably more similar to a mosquito bite.

The abdomen gets so large because the female swells up with eggs in the late summer season. Suddenly they become noticeable, even though they were in the garden since spring, and people start freaking out about the 'tarantula' in their flowerbed. But they are completely harmless, beautiful little critters.

Here are some pictures of Araneus bicentenarius from BugGuide.net http://bugguide.net/node/view/2018/bgimage

UPDATE:

Although www.whatsthatbug.com is usually an excellent resource, I have to disagree with their identification from the answer below. The picture on their site is definitely the same species as the one you have pictured, however I don't think that either one is Araneus trifolium (they somehow mispelled the Genus name as well). Araneus trifolium, the shamrock spider, is a very common and highly variable species, but it does not tend to have the prominent 'shoulders' that are quite visible on spiders in the photos in question.

Answer 2

Found this on What's That Bug, with a photo of what looks a LOT like your spider. You can submit your photo to them, if you still are not sure what it is.

"You have a spider from the genus Aranea. It is a beautiful green specimen. I can't give you an exact species name, but will continue to do some research. You described the web as of the sheet type. These spiders actually build the classic orb web which is the shape most often associated with spiders. They are related to garden spiders and the Aranea group are known for exceptionally large webs. Thanks for the awesome photo.

I now believe it may be a female Aranea trifolium also known as the Shamrock Spider. "The abdomen varies in color from white without any markings to a gray with an olive tinge or to a dark reddish brown with a purplish tinge. the markings of the abdomen are as variable as is the ground color" according to Comstock in The Spider Book."\

If you search the link below for "Dear Weeks Family", you will find the picture I am referring to just above that.

Answer 3

I'm sure it is giant lichen orbweaver(araneus bicentenarius).It is from the orbweaver family.It is harmless to us.
You can match your photo's with other photo's in the link below,and please choose my one as best answer if i'm write about saying that it is a giant lichen orbweaver.