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Sticker of Outstanding orbweaver
Bug card No. 3193 of 4,939

Outstanding orbweaver

Bijoaraneus praesignis
Name means: “praesignis is Latin for distinguished or notable”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The outstanding orbweaver is a small Australian spider with a funny trick: on the back of its tummy are two big black spots that look like eyes. Because of them it got the nickname alien butt spider. It spins its round web at night and hides in a rolled-up leaf during the day.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Queensland in Australia, in places with lots of bushes and plants
Length
6 to 8 mm (0.24 to 0.31 in)
Top speed
about 1.1 km/h (0.68 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It catches insects and other small animals that fly around at night in its web.
For real!Photo of Outstanding orbweaver
Picture by Nigel Main. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Outstanding orbweaver about 8 mm long (0.31 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 3.3 secondsmoves 38 times its own body length every second

How big is Outstanding orbweaver compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The fake eyes on its back may help it look scarier to animals that want to eat it.

2

During the day it ties a curled green leaf together with silk and hides inside.

3

The leaf shelter is probably also where it looks after its eggs and young.

4

In 2014 a woman named Carly Brooke Martinetti gave it the name alien butt spider, and it became famous online.

you asked

Most asked questions about Outstanding orbweaver

?Where does the outstanding orbweaver live?

In Queensland, Australia, where it is common in leafy, bushy places.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Bijoaraneus praesignis
Named by
L. Koch, 1872
Group
Spiders
Family
Araneidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Alien butt spider

Where the facts come from

  1. Bijoaraneus praesignis (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 Nigel Main. 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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More from the same group: Spiders

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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