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Sticker of Australian garden orb weaver
Bug card No. 0212 of 4,939

Australian garden orb weaver

Hortophora transmarina
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Australian garden orb weaver is a big, round-bodied spider that spins large, beautiful webs at night. It can be almost white, tan, brown or nearly black, with a leaf-shaped pattern on its back. In the morning it often hides under a leaf near its web.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Coastal and northern Australia, often near houses and gardens
Length
1.5 to 2.5 cm (0.59 to 0.98 in)
Top speed
about 1.9 km/h (1.2 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It catches flying insects in its sticky round web, often built near lights or between trees.
For real!Photo of Australian garden orb weaver
Picture by Fir0002. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Australian garden orb weaver about 2.5 cm long (0.98 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 4 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.9 secondsmoves 21 times its own body length every second

How big is Australian garden orb weaver compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Each time it sheds its skin, it can change its colour to better match the place where it rests.

2

If it is in real danger, it drops to the ground and plays dead.

3

It usually waits head down in the middle of its web at night.

4

The female is bigger than the male, up to 2.5 centimetres long.

you asked

Most asked questions about Australian garden orb weaver

?Why is there a big web in my garden every night?

Garden orb weavers build a fresh web each evening to catch insects and hide nearby during the day.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Hortophora transmarina
Group
Spiders
Family
Araneidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Australian garden orb weaver spider (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 Fir0002. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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More from the same group: Spiders

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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