Shamrock spider
The shamrock spider is a round, chubby orb-weaver with striped legs. Its big round tummy can be white, yellow, green, maroon or orange, with pale spots that look like a clover leaf. It builds a big round web in tall plants.
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Fun facts
It does not sit in the middle of its web. It hides in a folded leaf tied up with silk.
A special signal thread runs from its hiding place to the web, so it can feel when something gets caught.
Its web hangs about half a metre to 2 metres above the ground, often on goldenrod.
A mother makes an egg sac with several hundred eggs inside, wrapped in thick silk.
The adults die in winter, and only the eggs wait for spring.
Most asked questions about Shamrock spider
?How big is a shamrock spider?
Females are about 1 to 2 centimetres long, and males are much smaller.
?When can I see shamrock spiders?
The big adults are easiest to find in September and October.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Araneus trifolium
- Named by
- Hentz, 1847
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Araneidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Araneidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Shamrock orbweaver
Where the facts come from
- Araneus trifolium (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 xpda. CC BY-SA 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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