Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Small
Diet: Insectivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Climbing
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Common

About

This colorful spider builds horizontal circular webs in gardens and forests. It hangs upside down at the center of its web to consume prey caught in the sticky silk.

Life cycle

1.
egg sac
A silk-wrapped egg sac shelters a clutch of eggs until the young are ready to emerge.
2.
juvenile
A spiderling emerges from the egg sac already in miniature adult form and starts catching prey almost immediately.
3.
subadult
A near-adult arachnid molts through several instars, growing larger and developing mature markings.
4.
adult
Fully grown after its final molt.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Tetragnathidae
Genus: Leucauge
Species: Leucauge venusta