Silver garden orbweaver
This orb weaver spins ultraviolet-reflecting silk zigzags into its web, a pattern thought to lure flying insects toward the trap.
| Where | Warm gardens across the southern United States |
|---|---|
| Size | Female 12 to 25 mm, male 5 to 9 mm body length |
| When | March to January |
The silver garden orbweaver has a mirror-silver to white body marked with orange, yellow and black, and legs banded in orange and dark brown. Females are far larger than males and sit head down at the center of a large web, often reinforced with a zigzag band of silk called a stabilimentum.
It rebuilds its web through the day and stays visible at its center in daylight, despite its bright coloring. It favors warm gardens, shrubs and scrubland across the southern United States and further south into Central and South America.
Traits
Habitat
Garden
Colour
White, Orange, Metallic
Active
Day
To people
Not aggressive and very unlikely to bite; if found in a garden web it is best left undisturbed to catch insects.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Also silvery, but crossed by several fine dark bands running the width of the abdomen rather than the notched, mirror-silver front half of the silver garden orbweaver.
Questions
Is the Silver garden orbweaver dangerous to people?
Not aggressive and very unlikely to bite; if found in a garden web it is best left undisturbed to catch insects.
When can you see the Silver garden orbweaver?
The Silver garden orbweaver can be seen from March to January, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Amadeo Zimermann, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist Licence
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Spiders›Orb-weaver spiders›Argiope
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.