Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Micrathena gracilis - Spined Micrathena

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Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)
No Taxon (Entelegynes)
Family Araneidae (Orb Weavers)
Genus Micrathena
Species gracilis (Spined Micrathena)
Explanation of Names
Latin: "slender, slight"
Size
Females 8 - 10 mm, males average 4.5 mm.
One specimen (a female) from Durham, North Carolina, 30 July, measured 11 mm from head to tip of abdomen.
Identification
Females are mostly white or pale yellow, mottled with black or brown. They have ten spines on the chunky abdomen. Size 8 - 10 mm.
Males are flat with an elongated yellowish or white abdomen. They lack all but one or two abdominal spines and are smaller than females, averaging 4.5mm in size.