It's a striking little beast. They're supposed to be common around here, but this is the first one I've seen...I've envied those who "had" one, and now...I hope it laid plenty of eggs for next year.

That's a beautiful creature. Do the markings imitate anything more dangerous that lives in the same area?

(I'm just trying to recover from what seems to have been the bite of a Mock Widow spider. Difficult to be sure because I was asleep at the time but I've seen one in my home twice. I didn't know any British spider could give a significant bite until after that happened.)

Sympathies on your bite. Not fun!

I don't know what the markings "mean"--quite a few critters have a fake "face" to misdirect attacks, though. Hairstreak butterflies have these little "tails" that look a lot like the antennae on their heads, and some of them have a bright colored tip of the abdomen. Some caterpillars have big scary "eyes" that aren't eyes at all. I've read that a lot of bright markings are distraction markings, not intended to hide the critter, but just make it harder to decide how to grab it and chow down.

I Googled her, and now I'm surprised by the size. She is so tiny - how did you manage to see something so small? I hope she has lots of spiderlings to decorate your woods.

Some of my tropical fish have that kind of non-cryptic camouflage, especially large "eye-spots" at the rear of the dorsal fins or on the tail so they look like something four times the size going the other way. (It almost certainly fools some predators into trying to take them headfirst by snapping at the water behind their tails.)

Some of them have a variation of the "eyed butterfly wing" trick. The fish faces the predator, flares out spotted gill-plates and suddenly it looks like a much bigger creature, watching the predator and preparing to grab it,

Pretty spider! I really like its 'racing stripes'.

I like 'em too. I'm partial to "British Racing Green" as a color (early attachment to British sports cars, luckily faded before I poured money into one of those famously budget-wrecking vehicles.) And this spider's legs are perfect, and so are the racing stripes of green-becoming-black on top. I hope it survives or at least reproduces.