Spider in New York

[matthematical]

unfortunately the picture was taken outside at night and the flash reflected in a way that the photo will be of no use. So I will describe it. I found this spider on a web located on a wooden man made structure out doors near a river in Ithaca, NY (just on Cayuga lake). The spider was fairly large, l'd say larger than a female black widow. It had a very round abdomen like a black widow. It was a light brown with a dark marking on its back that looked very much like the biohazard symbol (although a bit less rounded and minus the ring in the middle). I have attached the image of that symbol. I'd say it might have had hair but might not of it was pretty dark out.

[Ungoliant]

If you had to describe the web, would you say that it is an orb web, a funnel web, a tube web, a crevice web, or an irregular web? (See this page for examples.)

[matthematical]

Orb web. Fairly standard looking. Radial lines coming out of the center, and concentric elements going around those radial ones.

[matthematical]

Here is the photo, may not be that useful but it gives a silhouette and the web

[Ungoliant]

I wish I could be more helpful, but I don't think I can do more than say that it's probably an orbweaver in the family Araneidae. (There are a couple of other orbweaver families, but they often have a different silhouette than what you posted.)

I feel like the biohazard sign reminds me of something in the back of my mind, but I just can't put my finger on it. I spent some time poring over Araneidae pictures to look for a spider matching that description, but nothing jumped out at me.

Maybe one of the experts can do better. (My knowledge of orbweavers is limited.)

[matthematical]

This might be it. It doesn't look quite like I remember but its conceivable that in the dark this could be confused for something that looked like the bio-hazard symbol http://bugguide.net/node/view/27826

[matthematical]

yeah looks like it might be one of the species in the genus Larinioides, but there are a few likely candidates. Anyone know what species are more common in upstate NY, especially near the southern end of Cayuga lake.