Gem-shaped orbweaver
Araneus gemma
The gem-shaped orbweaver is a garden spider that builds round webs outside. One of its nicknames is cat-faced spider. It is very common in the west of North America.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
The western United States and Canada, outdoors around gardens and buildings
What does it eat?
It catches insects that fly into its round, sticky web.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Gem-shaped orbweaver about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its silk threads are only 1 to 4 thousandths of a millimetre thick, much thinner than a hair.
2
It shares the nickname cat-faced spider with a close cousin.
you asked
Most asked questions about Gem-shaped orbweaver
?What does the gem-shaped orbweaver eat?
It eats insects that get caught in its web.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Araneus gemma
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Cat-faced spider, Jeweled orbweaver spider
Where the facts come from
- Araneus gemma (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 Chad King. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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