European Nursery Web Spider, Heeswijk-Dinther, Netherlands

Widespread in Europe. It's highly variable in color yet not in pattern. The daytime sunbathing behavior in the open as seen here is typical of Nursery Web Spiders.

Males engage in a stressful mating ritual where they provide food gifts to the female, after which it very rapidly tries to do the deed. Should the food gift be inadequate or the mating process fail, the female will continue to eat the male. The male will not be able to bring a better food gift next time, as there is no next time, and no male.

Finally, the female will build a dedicated web solely for the protection of her eggs, hence the family name "Nursery" Web Spiders (pisauridae).