Hello all, I'm wondering if someone can be of assistance with a small
spider situation I'm encountering.

First of all let me say that I'm from NYC and do not have much
knowledge at all about spiders except to respect their sapce and that
they are a great help in the elimination of insect pests.

Well here is my situation, Whenever I mow my lawn I've been running
into three wierd spider web/strands in different parts of my backyard.
They run usually from my Citrus trees (grapefruit, Navel orange, and
mandarin) either horizontally to another tree or diagonally into the
ground.

These webs are not webs in the classic sense of the word but rather
either single long strands or at the most, like I ran into today, one
single horizontal strand with a single diagonal strand into the
ground.

The longest strand extended from limb approximately 12 feet about the
ground diagonally to a spot approx 20 feet away from the originating
spot.

I usually will not see these things until I've run into them with my
forehead and taken a step or two forward. They usually will not break
and feel like someone has tightened a thread across my forehead to the
point of almost breaking skin.

I have encountered strong webs before but never like this.

Today I ran into the horizontal and diagonal tri strand and followed
it back into the Navel tree. The spider is holed up between two leaves
as follows:

(s)

so that it cannot be seen readily without me shining a very strong
light in between the leaves, the silhouette tends to me believe it may
be large but I am not sure. Before I shine the light, has anyone else
encountered this type of spider who can share their knowledge with me?

Thanks.

....Papewayo #026
teamROCS