Autumn Spider

On November 6, we awoke to puffs of frosty breath. Autumn comes at last, touching the edges of leaves with the palette of flame.
The Jorogumo (Nephila clavata) spends winter as an egg, hatching in mid-spring.  She spins larger and larger webs as she grows over the summer, dining on bees and other flying insects.
Autumn comes, and the Jorogumo spiders are resplendent against  backdrops of forest or sky, reposing in signature 3-D webs. The webs are unique, large orbs with a 3-D lattice backing,  tensile enough to span small rivers.

The females are large and beautifully colored. They each keep a tiny male consort or two, sometimes instinctively devouring them. On the first night of frost, the spiders abandon the webs, secure their precious eggs to the backs of evergreen leaves, and then  pass beyond the veil to the otherworld, to haunt the edges of our prehistoric dreams.