Northern jewelled spider
The northern jewelled spider is a small spider with a hard, spiny back that looks like a little jewel. The female has bold yellow or white stripes across her dark body. She sits in the middle of her round web and waits for insects to come close.
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Fun facts
In 1775 it became the very first Australian spider to get a scientific name.
Its bright stripes attract insects. To a bee, the white-striped spiders look just like flowers.
Females can be up to 12 millimetres long, but males are only about 2 millimetres.
The spines on its hard back help protect it from animals that might eat it.
It decorates its round web with little tufts of silk.
Most asked questions about Northern jewelled spider
?Why does the jewelled spider have stripes?
Its bright stripes help attract insects to its web, and may warn predators that it is not a good meal.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Gasteracantha fornicata
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1775
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Gasteracantha fornicata (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 Amos T Fairchild. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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