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Sticker of Kidney garden spider
Bug card No. 2447 of 4,939

Kidney garden spider

Bijoaraneus mitificus
Name means: “the beautiful lady spider, from the Japanese word bijo”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The kidney garden spider is a small, round orb-weaver spider from Asia. On its back it has a big mark shaped like a kidney bean, and from the front the pattern can even look like a little face. It hides in a rolled-up leaf next to its web.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
South, East and Southeast Asia, down to New Guinea and Australia, in gardens and bushes
Length
3 to 9 mm (0.12 to 0.35 in)
females are bigger than males
Top speed
about 1.1 km/h (0.68 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It eats insects that fly into its web.
For real!Photo of Kidney garden spider
Picture by unknown author. CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Kidney garden spider about 9 mm long (0.35 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 fingernailas long as 1.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 3.3 secondsmoves 34 times its own body length every second

How big is Kidney garden spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its round web always has one slice missing, like a pie with one piece taken out.

2

A single long thread runs through the missing slice to its leaf hideout. When an insect gets stuck, the thread shakes and the spider rushes out.

3

Its tummy is green underneath.

4

Its first name comes from the Japanese word bijo, which means beautiful lady.

5

The males are smaller and less colourful, and they build their own small webs near the females.

you asked

Most asked questions about Kidney garden spider

?Why is it called the kidney garden spider?

Because it has a big kidney-shaped mark on its back.

?How big is the kidney garden spider?

Females are about 6 to 9 millimetres long, and males only 3 to 5 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Bijoaraneus mitificus
Named by
Simon, 1886
Group
Spiders
Family
Araneidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Pale orb weaver

Where the facts come from

  1. Bijoaraneus mitificus (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 unknown author. CC BY-SA 2.5, 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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