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Sticker of Common web-spider
Bug card No. 1165 of 4,939

Common web-spider

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

The common web-spider spins a big round web and rests near the middle of it. Its colour can be dark reddish brown or pale yellow. Its legs are light with dark patches at the knees.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
Warm parts of Asia and islands in the Pacific
Length
0.9 to 1.1 cm (0.35 to 0.43 in)
females are a little bigger than males
Top speed
about 1.3 km/h (0.81 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
It eats flying insects that get caught in its round web.
For real!Photo of Common web-spider
Picture by Summerdrought. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Common web-spider about 1.1 cm long (0.43 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.8 secondsmoves 33 times its own body length every second

How big is Common web-spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The top of its belly has a pattern that is lighter in the middle and darker on the sides.

2

Under its body there is a dark shield shape with a pale yellow stripe down the middle.

3

A little groove on its back helps scientists tell it apart from other orb-weaving spiders.

4

Its close relatives live in warm places all around the world.

you asked

Most asked questions about Common web-spider

?How big is the common web-spider?

Females are up to about 11 millimetres long, and males up to about 9 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Neoscona theisi
Group
Spiders
Family
Araneidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Neoscona theisi (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 Summerdrought. 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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More from the same group: Spiders

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