Northern Saint Andrew's cross spider
Argiope aetherea
The northern Saint Andrew's cross spider is a large spider that builds a big round web. The female often weaves a bright white X shape into the middle of her web. She sits right in the centre with her legs lined up along the X.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
From China to Australia
What does it eat?
It catches flying insects in its big round web.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Northern Saint Andrew's cross spider 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
The X in the web looks like the cross of Saint Andrew, which gives the spider its name.
2
The female is many times bigger than the male.
3
It looks a lot like its cousin in Australia, but the females are usually bigger.
4
There is a special kind of it that lives in New Guinea.
you asked
Most asked questions about Northern Saint Andrew's cross spider
?Why is it called the Saint Andrew's cross spider?
Because the female often weaves a white X shape, like Saint Andrew's cross, into her web.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Argiope aetherea
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- St Andrew's Cross spider
Where the facts come from
- Argiope aetherea (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 Summerdrought. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
European garden spider
Goliath birdeater
Brown recluse
Redback spider
Yellow garden spider
Bold jumping spider
Oriental fruit fly
Differential grasshopper
Mediterranean red bug
Yellow meadow ant
American pelecinid wasp
Eight-spotted forester