META BUT NOT ZUCKERBERG

Meta segmentata is the name of this pretty little spider, although it is more often called Metallina segmentata (little meta).  Yes it is pretty!  If you found a flower with this patterning you would be delighted. 

It's  the legs, isn't it, that puts people off spiders.

This one was sitting on a yellow flag iris leaf.

Spiders have two sections to their bodies: an abdomen containing most of their internal organs and a cephalothorax which combines the head functions (eyes, jaws, etc) with the thorax, which is where all the legs are attached.

Metallina's abdomen has an attractive oak leaf pattern called a folium, with two darker triangles in front of them.  The cephalothorax has a dark shape like a tuning fork.  You can also see a row of black eyes at the front.

Meta/ Metallina segmentata is very common in late summer and autumn, when males wait quietly in the corner of a female web until a big enough fly gets caught.  Then they will race to the fly, wrap it up and present it to the female while mating with her.  Cunning eh?

It's dangerous though.  There may be other bigger males that come along and duff the smaller ones up, AND the successful male may be gobbled up by the female.

This one had a body only about 5mm long, so an average male.