Argiope aurantia: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the argiope aurantia lives – recorded in 3 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Argiope aurantia
Group	Spiders, scorpions & other arachnids
Found in	3 countries
Continents	North America
Class	Arachnid
Order	Araneida
Family	Araneidae

Where does the argiope aurantia live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the argiope aurantia in 3 countries and territories across North America. Wikidata gives its range as: Texas.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the argiope aurantia?

The argiope aurantia (Argiope aurantia) is an arachnid in the order Araneida and the family Araneidae, genus Argiope. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the argiope aurantia

Argiope aurantia is a species of spider, commonly known as the yellow garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, zigzag spider, zipper spider, black and yellow argiope, corn spider, Steeler spider, or McKinley spider. The species was first described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1833. It is common in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America. It has distinctive yellow and black markings on the abdomen and a mostly white cephalothorax. Its scientific Latin name translates to "gilded silver-face" (the genus name Argiope meaning "silver-face", while the specific epithet aurantia means "gilded"). The body length of males ranges from 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in); females range from 19–28 mm (0.75–1.10 in). The average female body mass is about 752.0 mg. These spiders may bite if disturbed or harassed, but the venom is harmless to non-allergic humans, roughly equivalent to a bumblebee sting in intensity.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Argiope aurantia (revision 1379132142), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q2556499 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).