neoscona crucifera

It's my understanding that the flat abdomen IS a characteristic of a neoscona (with the vernacular name "barn spider" not to be confused with the species araneus cavaticus). A comparison of a neoscona crucifera orbweaver with a flat abdomen, and a similar orbweaver with bumps on the abdomen, araneus gemma, appears here: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/redmite.htm (orb weavers are compared approx. half way down the webpage) If you review the secondary photos of my spotting, you can see she does have stripes on her legs. The Wikipedia photo is not a great representation of this species in my oppinion, an image search with Bing or Google of "neoscona crucifera" gives some much better examples.

Thanks Eric.