Orb Weaver Spiders sometimes have a dorsal stripe which may be white or brown edged with white. Most are stout, reddish-brown or grey spiders with a leaf-shaped pattern on their fat, roughly triangular abdomens, which also have two noticeable humps towards the front. The commonly seen Garden Orb Weavers are 2 to 3 centimetres in length for the female and 1.5 to 2 centimetres for the male in body length. Orb Weaver Spider Characteristicsīecause there are so many different species of Orb Weavers, they differ in colour shape and size. The oldest known orb-weaving spider is ‘Mesozygiella dunlopi’, an extinct species of orb-weaving spider with specimens found in amber dating from the Lower Cretaceous period. Orb Weaver Spiders This family of spiders is a very large one and includes over 2800 species in over 160 genera worldwide, making it the third largest family of spiders known behind the jumping spider family (Salticidae) and the second largest family of spiders called Linyphiidae commonly known as Sheet Weavers because of the shape of their webs.
