Bridge spider
The bridge spider is a big grey orb-web spider with a white outline around its head and dark markings on its body. It loves bridges, boats and buildings near water, especially near lamps. The light draws in insects, and that means dinner.
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Fun facts
Its round web can be up to 70 centimetres across.
In the best spots near lights, as many as 100 of these spiders can live in one square metre.
It hides during the day and sits in the middle of its web at night, waiting for food.
Spiders living near lights are often healthier and have more babies than those in the dark.
It likes metal things like steel bridges and is hardly ever seen on plants.
Most asked questions about Bridge spider
?Why are there so many spiders on bridges?
Lamps over water attract lots of insects, and bridge spiders build their webs there to catch them.
?What does the bridge spider eat?
Small flying insects, mostly tiny midges.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Larinioides sclopetarius
- Named by
- Clerck, 1757
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America
- Also known as
- Gray cross-spider
Where the facts come from
- Larinioides sclopetarius (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Mario Bassini. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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