Gasteracantha
(Spiny Orb-weavers)

Gasteracantha, commonly known as Spiny Orb-weavers, is a genus of spiders in the family Araneidae. Gasteracantha spiders have been sighted 65 times by contributing members. Based on collected data, the geographic range for Gasteracantha includes 1 countries and 11 states in the United States. Gasteracantha is most often sighted outdoors, and during the month of May.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Family: Araneidae
Genus: Gasteracantha

Other Common Names

Spiny Orb-weavers

Author

Carl Jakob Sundevall, 1833

Sightings Overview

There have been 65 confirmed sightings of Gasteracantha (Spiny Orb-weavers), with the most recent sighting submitted on July 10, 2026 by Spider ID member jimbo55. The detailed statistics below may not utilize the complete dataset of 65 sightings because of certain Gasteracantha sightings reporting incomplete data.

Web: 86% of the time, Gasteracantha spiders are sighted in a spider web (Sample size: 65)
Sex: 4 female and 0 male.
Environment: Gasteracantha has been sighted 67 times outdoors, and 4 times indoors.
Outdoors: Man-made structure (28). On flower (1). Low foliage (16). High foliage (21). Freshwater river, lake, stream (1).

Location and Range

Gasteracantha (Spiny Orb-weavers) has been sighted in the following countries: United States.

Gasteracantha has also been sighted in the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.