| Four-spot Orb-weaver (Araneus quadratus (Clerck, 1757)) |
|
|
|
Scientific name: Araneus quadratus (Clerck, 1757) Common name: Four-spot Orb-weaver French name: Épeire à quatre points, Épeire carrée. Order: Araneae Family: Araneidae Size: Up to 18 mm for females, 7 to 10 mm for males. Biotope: Meadows with high grasses, bushes. Web: The rather large size orb web, up to 40 cm in diameter, is always located close to the ground to catch jumping insects. It has a maximum of 29 radii. The spider often sits hidden in a small tent-shaped shelter, connected to the web by an alert silk thread. Observation period: You can observe adults from July to October. The young spiderlings hatch out in spring and mating happen in late summer or early autumn. The eggs are laid inside a cocoon which protect them during winter. Adults die in late autumn. Geographic area: Europe, Asia east to Japan. |
The Four-spot Orb-weaver is very variable in colour. It is most often yellowish green when young and then can then turn to brown, kaki, orange or reddish. The abdomen shows a longitudinal row of spaced white dots which can form some kind of a continuous line next to the cephalothorax. But it is mainly remarkable by the presence of four large white rounded spots, marked with a black dot on their rear edge. The two hind spots are larger and more distant to each other than the two fore ones. The abdomen of gravid females is rounded. The cephalothorax is hairy and shows a broad and dark longitudinal stripe. It is rather wider at the front but not always very visible. The legs are generally ringed with dark. The sternum is marked with a white spot. The Marbled Orb-weaver (Araneus marmoreus) can also show four white spots on the abdomen. However the hind spots are smaller or the same size as the fore spots. The central line on the cephalothorax is thinner. It is wider than the gap between the eyes on the Four-spot Orb-weaver. |
| [To know more about the Four-spot Orb-weaver] [Next picture] [Top] |
|
The respective size of the fore spots and hind spots associated to the black stripe on the cephalothorax, that we can guess rather wide, indicate the Four-spot Orb-weaver species. I think that I have disturbed this spider while it was sitting in wait inside its hide close to its web. |
| [To know more about the Four-spot Orb-weaver] [Previous picture] [Top] |
|
The four large spots on the abdomen are not well rounded but their respective size seems to match the Four-spot Orb-weaver species. |
André Bon October 2021