Stats

Lifespan

Annual

Size

Small

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Climbing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Uncommon

About

This orb-weaver spider builds circular webs in gardens and forests across North America. It consumes its own silk every night to recycle the proteins before spinning a new web at dawn.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg sac

   A silk-wrapped egg sac shelters a clutch of eggs until the young are ready to emerge.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   A spiderling emerges from the egg sac already in miniature adult form and starts catching prey almost immediately.
3. 3.
   subadult

   A near-adult arachnid molts through several instars, growing larger and developing mature markings.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown after its final molt.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Araneidae

Genus

Neoscona

Species

Neoscona arabesca