Stats

Lifespan

Up to 1 yr

Size

Medium

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Climbing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Warning Colors

Status

Common

About

The marbled orbweaver has a swollen, globe-shaped abdomen mottled in orange, yellow, and black in a marbled pattern that can vary widely between individuals. Females build a fresh orb web each night and often retreat to a silk-lined leaf shelter at one edge, tethered to the web's hub by a signal thread.

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.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Araneae

Family

Araneidae

Genus

Araneus

Species

Araneus marmoreus