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enter image description here

This is in Wroclaw, Poland.

I'll be here a few months and I've noticed that they come in large groups in the evening. They are everywhere outside, but I haven't seen any inside. They seem to live in colonies because when you see one, there are 50 others next to it, all sizes (age I guess), but always the same type.

The large ones have body about 1-1.2 cm long but the colonies have some significantly smaller with them, like 1/4 of the size.

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  • $\begingroup$ It's clearly an orbweaver, judging by the typical head-down position in a vertical web. The scalloped pattern on the abdomen reminds me of one of the Lariniodes species, but I'm not familiar enough with European spiders to be confident of an identification beyond that. I would assume that there are bright lights, and possibly a pond nearby, given that you mention a lot of them close together. $\endgroup$ – John Robinson Oct 2 at 20:18
  • $\begingroup$ yes, they gather close to the city's river and are always seen where there are floodlights, at night; can't see any during the day $\endgroup$ – Thomas Oct 3 at 10:46
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    $\begingroup$ Most of the night-hunting orbweavers hide near the web during the day (so they don't get eaten), although late in the season, as they get larger, and closer to laying eggs, some may stay in the web during the day. These are not normally found in clusters, but where there is enough food, they can cram together in surprisingly large numbers. There is a sewage treatment plant near my home that recently was documented to be something out of a horror movie - masses of webs of orbweavers and thousands of spiders filling the higher levels of a giant open building over the settling tanks.. $\endgroup$ – John Robinson Oct 4 at 14:57

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