Spider identification help?

[crowdog66]

We have a HUGE spider that's spun a web just outside our living room window. Here are a couple of pictures of her (I'm assuming it's female because of its largeness):





Her body, not including the legs, is about an inch long.

Any help that anyone can give in identifying her species would be appreciated.

EDITED TO ADD: The word from Yahoo!Answers is that she's an orb weaver:

http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/okwild/misc/orbwea.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orb-weaver_spider

More specifically, she's likely a Neoscona crucifera.

EDITED TO ADD 2: Or, she might be an Araneus cavaticus -- also called the Barn Spider.

Hee. Good to know. I always like to know more about the animals that share my living space, and even though she's on the other side of a screen from me, I still count her as being close enough.

(And sorry about that, dark_puck... I suppose I should have put a stronger warning on my link...)

Comments

[eastpath.livejournal.com]

holy god that thing is huge! glad it is not outside of *my* window!! O_O!!