Orb Web Spider
Araneus (?)
This spider is hiding during daylight hours beneath a feathery leaf of Black Wattle, Eldoret, Kenya, January 2012.
Spiders belonging to the family Araneidae build circular webs suspended between twigs or other structures and so designed to capture flying insects. For most the plane of the web is perpendicular to the ground. Many species, including the one shown here construct a new web each night. At dawn the web is eaten and the silk protein recycled for production of a new web after dusk.