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 63 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 63 confirmed sightings of Gasteracantha (Spiny Orb-weavers), with the most recent sighting submitted on June 14, 2025 by Spider ID member tommy-mike. The detailed statistics below may not utilize the complete dataset of 63 sightings because of certain Gasteracantha sightings reporting incomplete data.

Web: 87% of the time, Gasteracantha spiders are sighted in a spider web (Sample size: 63)
Sex: 4 female and 0 male.
Environment: Gasteracantha has been sighted 65 times outdoors, and 4 times indoors.
Outdoors: Man-made structure (26). 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.