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Sticker of Grass neoscona spider
Bug card No. 1996 of 4,939

Grass neoscona spider

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

The grass neoscona spider is a round-web spider that loves grassland. It is very common in southern Africa. It spins its web at night and takes it down again early in the morning.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Africa, and also found in Cuba and Argentina, in grassland, fields and orchards
Top speed
about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It catches insects that fly into its round web at night.
For real!Photo of Grass neoscona spider
Picture by Peter Webb. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It lives in all nine provinces of South Africa.

2

It has been found from near the seashore up to more than 2,000 metres high.

3

Farmers find it in fields of maize, cotton and tomatoes, and in avocado and pecan orchards.

4

It was first described from the island of Réunion in 1863.

you asked

Most asked questions about Grass neoscona spider

?When does the grass neoscona spider make its web?

At night. It takes the web down again early in the morning.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Neoscona moreli
Named by
Vinson, 1863
Group
Spiders
Family
Araneidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
Lives on
Africa, North America, South America
Also known as
Morel's grass Neoscona orb-web spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Neoscona moreli (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 Peter Webb. CC BY 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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