Orb Weaver Spiders: Identification, Common Types and Webs

Orb weaving spiders are web builders that catch flying insects in flat, round webs and usually sit head down in the center or hide in a nearby retreat. You can recognize them by these features:

• Web: a flat, round web with straight spokes and a spiral, often hung in a gap between plants, under eaves or near outdoor lights.
• Body: a big, round, triangular or spiny abdomen and a smaller front body.
• Legs: fairly short and sturdy in most species, often banded, with the front legs held forward.
• Timing: most are seen in late summer and early autumn, when they reach full size.

Utah State University Extension notes that these spiders are often found around porches, entryways and garden plants and that adults die off each year, leaving egg sacs that hatch in spring. Some web builders, such as the golden silk spider, belong to related families but spin similar webs.

The orb weaving spiders people see most often include the marbled, spiny, cross, barn, spotted and golden silk spiders. Each has a different shape or color that makes it easy to tell apart.

Marbled Orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus)

The marbled orbweaver has a bright orange or yellow abdomen marbled with brown, purple and pale spots, so it is sometimes called the pumpkin spider. Penn State Extension describes females as 9 to 20 mm (3/8 to 3/4 in) long. It builds webs in moist woods and tall plants and hides in a silk lined leaf at the edge.

Spiny Orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis)

The spiny orbweaver is the classic hard shell spider, also called a spider with a shell back. Its wide, flat abdomen is covered by a hard shield with six pointed spines, usually red in Florida, and it can be white, yellow or almost black with black spots. The University of Florida describes females as 5 to 9 mm long but up to 13 mm wide, while males are tiny.

Golden Silk Spider (Trichonephila clavipes)

The golden silk spider, sometimes called the banana spider, is one of the largest web builders in North America. Females are 24 to 40 mm (1 to 1 5/8 in) long, with long banded legs, and their webs can span 1 to 2 m (3 to 6 ft). The silk has a golden shine in sunlight. It lives in the southeastern United States, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Cross, Barn and Spotted Orbweavers

• Cross spider (Araneus diadematus): also called the European garden spider, with a white cross pattern on a brown abdomen. Common in Europe and North America.
• Barn spider (Araneus cavaticus): a large brown spider that builds webs on barns, sheds and porches.
• Spotted orbweaver (Neoscona): the most common brown orb weaver spider in many yards, with a hairy brown or gray abdomen. It builds a new web each evening and hides by day.
• Arrowshaped micrathena (Micrathena sagittata): another hard shelled spider with a yellow, red and black arrow shaped abdomen.
• Yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia): a large black and yellow spider with a thick zigzag of silk in the center of its web.

Use this chart to match the shape, color and web of the spider you found.

Colors vary a lot within each species, including red and black forms, so check shape and web as well as color. For other spiders and how they compare, see our guide to the types of spiders or use the Spider Identifier, which also explains common web types.

An orb web is a flat trap built in three steps: a frame, straight spokes from the center and a sticky catching spiral. The spider makes the frame and spokes from dry silk, then lays the sticky spiral from the outside in.

1. 1Bridge line: the spider lets a thread drift on the breeze until it sticks to something, then strengthens it.
2. 2Frame and spokes: it adds an outer frame and runs straight spokes to a central hub.
3. 3Temporary spiral: a dry spiral holds everything in place while it works.
4. 4Sticky spiral: it replaces the temporary spiral with sticky silk that traps insects.

Many orb weaving spiders take down and eat their old web each night or morning, recycling the silk proteins, then build a fresh one. Others, like the golden silk spider, keep the same web for weeks and repair damaged parts. Some species add a zigzag band of silk, called a stabilimentum, which may help birds see and avoid the web.

No. Orb weaving spiders are not poisonous to touch, and their venom is not dangerous to people. They almost never bite unless squeezed or handled, and they usually drop from the web or play dead when disturbed.

When bites do happen, sources describe them as mild. Penn State Extension says a bite from a marbled orbweaver feels no worse than a bee or wasp sting, and the University of Florida notes that the golden silk spider's bite causes brief, local pain and slight redness. The brown species found in many yards are equally harmless.

They catch mosquitoes, flies, moths, aphids and other flying insects, many of which are garden pests. A single large web can trap dozens of insects in a night. Leaving webs that are out of the way, such as between shrubs or along fences, is an easy way to get free pest control.

Most orb weaving spiders are easiest to spot in late summer and autumn, when females are full grown and webs are large. Early morning dew makes webs stand out. They favor gardens, hedges, porches, barns, fields and the edges of woods, especially near lights that attract insects at night. After the first hard frost in cold regions, most adults die, and the next generation waits in egg sacs until spring. If you find a small dark spider with white spots on a web, see our guide to the black spider with white spots on its back.