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Cross spider

Araneus diadematus

Photo by Tiz
Published on Project Noah
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49.8693, 19.4507

Field Notes

Description:

European garden spider (orb-weaver) varieties are very commonly found throughout Europe and North America. Individual spiders' colouring can range from extremely light yellow to very dark grey, but all European garden spiders have mottled markings across the back, with five or more large, white dots forming a cross.

Habitat:

Meadowland

Notes:

Adult females range in length from 6.5 to 20 mm (0.26 to 0.79 in), while males range from 5.5 to 13 mm (0.22 to 0.51 in). During mating, the much smaller male will approach the female cautiously. If not careful, he could end up being eaten by her. Since this tends to be a passive animal, it is difficult to provoke to bite—but if it does, the bite is just slightly unpleasant and completely harmless to humans. The webs are built by the larger females who usually lie head down on the web, or in a nearby leaf (with a signal thread attached to a leg), waiting for prey to get entangled in the web. The prey is then quickly captured and wrapped in silk before being eaten. (Wikipedia)

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