Dorsal view female, yellow colour morph ©Marianne Horemans

Four-spot orbweaver

Know more?

This is our most colour variable species, which often catches big prey, such as dragonflies.

 

Latin name: Araneus quadratus

German name: Vierfleckkreuzspinne

Web: Large orb web

Habitat: Makes a web quite low to the ground (under 50 cm) between grasses and herbs, often in more humid places.

How to recognize:

  • typical drawing with four white spots on the back of the abdomen
  • different colours: ranging from light yellow - green - orange - red-brown
  • large spider, sometimes during the day in web, but usually in retreat on the edge of the web

Looks similar to:

  • Can be confused with the Marbled Orbweaver, but the two front light spots of that species are usually larger than the back two. With the Four-spot orbweaver, it is the other way around, with the two fronts spots being almost always larger.

Size:

♀: 9-20 mm

♂: 6-8 mm

When?

♀: July till October

♂: June till September