Dome web spider
Adult females of this social orb weaver grow up to roughly ten times the length of the tiny adult males, which measure only about three millimeters long.
| Where | Shrubs and forest edges across East Asia |
|---|---|
| Size | Female 20 to 30 mm, male about 3 mm body length |
| When | January to December |
The high, dome shaped abdomen overhangs the cephalothorax and is extremely variable in pattern, with patches of black or reddish brown to greenish orange mottling over a whitish or greenish yellow background, while newly hatched spiderlings are white, green and silver.
It spins a three dimensional web with a horizontal dome at its center rather than a simple orb, and neighboring females often build adjoining webs that merge into a single composite structure spanning several meters across shrubs and forest edges.
Traits
Habitat
Woodland
Colour
Black, Green, White
Active
Day and night
To people
Not dangerous to people; if its web is found overhead in a shrub or tree it is easiest just to walk around it.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Populations in Japan and Taiwan once identified as Cyrtophora moluccensis are now often treated as this separate, predominantly reddish species, distinguished from the green-to-yellow base color of true Cyrtophora moluccensis.
Questions
Is the Dome web spider dangerous to people?
Not dangerous to people; if its web is found overhead in a shrub or tree it is easiest just to walk around it.
When can you see the Dome web spider?
The Dome web spider can be seen from January to December, by day and at night.
Plate retouched from a photo by Natasha Taylor, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist Licence
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Spiders›Orb-weaver spiders›Cyrtophora
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.