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Sticker of Oval Saint Andrew's cross spider
Bug card No. 3194 of 4,939

Oval Saint Andrew's cross spider

Argiope aemula
Name means: “silver face”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersRainforests and jungles8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The oval Saint Andrew's cross spider is a big, bright web spider from south-east Asia. The female has an oval yellow body with black stripes and silvery hair on her front part. She sits in her web with her legs held in pairs, making the shape of an X.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
South-east Asia, India, southern China, southern Japan and northern Australia, in sunny bushy places
Length
0.5 to 3 cm (0.2 to 1.2 in)
Top speed
about 2.1 km/h (1.3 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It catches flying insects in its large web.
For real!Photo of Oval Saint Andrew's cross spider
Picture by Vinayaraj. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Oval Saint Andrew's cross spider about 3 cm long (1.2 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.7 seconds

How big is Oval Saint Andrew's cross spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The female is up to 30 millimetres long, but the male is only 5 to 8 millimetres.

2

Its web has a special zigzag band of thick silk in it, which makes the spider easy to recognise.

3

Argiope means silver face, because of the silvery hairs on its head part.

4

It usually builds its web about 1 to 2 metres above the ground.

you asked

Most asked questions about Oval Saint Andrew's cross spider

?How big is the oval Saint Andrew's cross spider?

The female grows to 23 to 30 millimetres long, while the male is tiny, only 5 to 8 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Argiope aemula
Group
Spiders
Family
Araneidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Oval St Andrew's cross spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Argiope aemula (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Vinayaraj. 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.

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