Golden silk spider
A female of this species can be many times the size of the small males that live at the edges of her web, often without ever attacking them.
| Where | Woodlands and shrubby areas, southeastern United States |
|---|---|
| Size | Female 24 to 40 mm, male about 6 mm body length |
| When | April to November |
The Golden silk spider has an elongated orange brown abdomen marked with silvery spots, a dark front body section, and dense dark tufts of hair at several of the leg joints. Females are large and conspicuous, while males are a fraction of their size and pale and inconspicuous by comparison.
Its large, wheel shaped web is strong and tinted gold, and rather than being rebuilt from scratch each day it is patched and enlarged over many weeks in a gap between trees or shrubs. Several small males often live along the edges of one female's web, and adults reach full size by late summer.
Traits
Habitat
Woodland
Colour
Yellow, Black
Active
Day
To people
This large spider is not aggressive toward people and rarely bites unless trapped against the skin, causing only brief local discomfort.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Legs without the dense dark hair tufts at the joints seen in the Golden silk spider, and an abdomen showing bright yellow bands crossed by blue black stripes on the underside.
Questions
Is the Golden silk spider dangerous to people?
This large spider is not aggressive toward people and rarely bites unless trapped against the skin, causing only brief local discomfort.
When can you see the Golden silk spider?
The Golden silk spider can be seen from April to November, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Norah Tempus, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist Licence
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Spiders›Orb-weaver spiders›Trichonephila
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.