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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Spiders (Araneae) » True Spiders (Araneomorphae) » Entelegynae » Orb Weavers (Araneidae) » Metepeira » Labyrinth Orbweaver (Metepeira labyrinthea)

Species Metepeira labyrinthea - Labyrinth Orbweaver

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Metepeira - Metepeira labyrinthea - female

Some type of orb weaver? - Metepeira labyrinthea

Metepeira labyrinthea? - Metepeira labyrinthea - female

Spider in lilac bush - Metepeira labyrinthea

Labyrinth Orbweaver - Metepeira labyrinthea

Decorated Orb Weaver Spiders - Lateral - Metepeira labyrinthea - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)

Class Arachnida (Arachnids)

Order Araneae (Spiders)

Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders)

No Taxon (Entelegynae)

Family Araneidae (Orb Weavers)

Genus Metepeira

Species labyrinthea (Labyrinth Orbweaver)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

See the World Spider Catalog.

Explanation of Names

Author of the name: Hentz. Year first published: 1847.

Size

5.5-6.2 mm (female), 4-4.5 mm (male) (1)

Identification

The Spiders of the Eastern US says that the Metepeira labyrinthea can be distinguished from other orbweavers by having longer terminal leg segments "(tarsus plus metatarsus longer than tibia plus patella)".

It does have the longitudinal light line on the sternum which isn't found on grandiosa & datona. (1)

The following image is closest to the ventral drawing in the work cited:

(two white ventral marks & 4 spots around spinnerets, & 2 lighter marks on either edge of the black ventral abdomen mark.)

Web in this species (and genus?) a distinctive composite "a more or less vertical orb behind which is placed an irregular labyrinth resembling the snare of a theridiid." (1)

Female with egg cases:

Range

Massachusetts, southern Ontario, southern Wisconsin, to western Oklahoma and western Texas, south to the Florida Keys. (1)

Habitat

This is a forest species (1).

Season

Spring to late fall. All year in FL. (1)

Remarks

Over most of its range, it is the only Metepeira. In the north its range overlaps with grandiosa and in Florida with datona. In Texas it overlaps with other species. (1)

Internet References

1. www.biodiversitylibrary.org - The Orb-Weaver Genera Metepeira, Kaira and Aculepeira in America North of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae) by Herbert W. Levi

Works Cited

1.	How to Know the Spiders B. J. Kaston. 1978. WCB/McGraw-Hill.

Contributed by john and jane balaban on 3 December, 2005 - 12:03pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Lynette Elliott, cheins, Mike Quinn
Last updated 29 September, 2024 - 8:24am

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