Labyrinth orbweaver
The labyrinth orbweaver is a small spider with thin striped legs and a round, dark tummy with a white pattern. Its web is easier to recognise than the spider itself. It builds a round web in front of a messy tangle, with a little tent of leaves to hide in.
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Fun facts
A thread runs from its tent to the web, so it can feel when an insect gets stuck.
Many of these spiders often live in the same tree, with webs just a few centimetres apart.
The mother hangs her egg cases in a row like beads, hidden among leaves and bits in her web.
When the babies hatch, they float away on silk threads in the wind.
In a test, spiders that got extra food laid more than twice as many eggs.
Most asked questions about Labyrinth orbweaver
?Why is it called a labyrinth spider?
Because its home is a twisty tangle of threads, like a little maze, with a round web in front.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Metepeira labyrinthea
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Metepeira labyrinthea (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Richhoyer99. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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