Fun Hawaiian Garden Spider Facts For Kids

Hawaiian garden spiders (Argiope appensa) belonging to the phylum of Arthropods, Aranidae family and Argiope genus is a small spider species known for its mastery of orb-weaving. They are ubiquitously found in a variety of habitats mainly in countries like Hawaii, Taiwan, Guam, Australia, and Indonesia.

They prefer thriving near sunny and warm environments and are solitary species, who prefer staying close to their neighbors. While the females are bigger with longer legs, the males are shorter and brown in color.

The distinct black and yellow markings on the females have given them the name of yellow garden spiders in Hawaii.

At present, they are Not Evaluated by the IUCN and are found in plenty across their habitats. Their insectivorous diet consists of small insects and smaller spiders that mistakenly come close to their sticky web trap.

Intrigued to find out whether the Hawaiian garden spider is poisonous or not? Check out below for more exciting details.

You can also check out fun facts about the Carolina wolf spider and rabid wold spider here.

Hawaiian Garden Spider Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a Hawaiian garden spider?

Hawaiian garden spiders (Argiope appensa) are an orb-weaving spider species found in plenty of numbers.

What class of animal does a Hawaiian garden spider belong to?

The Hawaiian garden spider (Argiope appensa) belongs to the class of Arachnida. It is a spider species of the Aranidae family.

How many Hawaiian garden spiders are there in the world?

As the populations of these spiders are widely found across the world, no approximations have been made about the exact number of Hawaiian garden spiders.

Where does a Hawaiian garden spider live?

These garden spiders (Argiope appensa) are found in countries like Taiwan, Guam, Hawaii, Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Indonesia, and the western Pacific Ocean. Taiwan and Guam are said to be the native place of this yellow garden spider.

What is a Hawaiian garden spider's habitat?

The habitat of this spider species (Argiope appensa) is spread across a range of ecosystems. They can thrive well in a variety of places like forests, coasts, roadside, gardens, bushes, tree branches, and human constructions.

Who does the Hawaiian garden spider live with?

Hawaiian garden spiders are known to live in close proximity dwelling in different webs. They neither lead a solitary nor a group life but prefer staying around neighbors of the same species.

How long does a Hawaiian garden spider live?

The average lifespan of the Hawaiian garden spider in nature is about one year.

How do they reproduce?

The Hawaiian garden spider (Argiope appensa) usually breeds twice a year. The male builds a web close to the web of a female to copulate.

After mating, the female produces a circular brown egg sac containing 300-1400 eggs. The egg sac has a silky outer layer that enables it to remain attached to the web, unlike other spiders who carry the egg sac in their abdomen.

The eggs hatch out during fall but remain dormant, immature, and dependent on the mother up to the following spring. Thereafter, the spiderlings mature and become independent.

What is their conservation status?

Owing to their varied range of habitat and stable population size, Hawaiian garden spiders (Argiope appensa), belonging to the Aranidae family and Argiope genus is a species that is Not Evaluated by the IUCN. They are found in plenty of numbers in their dwelling site and are not bothered by human interactions.

Hawaiian Garden Spider Fun Facts

What does a Hawaiian garden spider look like?

The Hawaiian garden spider (Argiope appensa) displays sexual dimorphism, which makes the male and female species look quite different from each other. The body of the females has striking black and yellow banded legs while the males are brown in color, smaller in size and drab-looking.

The females are bigger than the males. Both have a pentagon-shaped abdomen with eight eyes and a dark cephalothorax.

How cute are they?

People who are scared of spiders and insects will not find them cute. But some may find them attractive because of the strikingly alternate band of black and yellow colors found in the females. Also, their eight eyes placed in the dark cephalothorax and their pentagon-shaped body makes these garden spiders look cute and curious-looking insects.

How do they communicate?

These spider species cannot communicate verbally and are also not very expressive. The males communicate with a female during the mating season to copulate and separate soon after mating. They are known to build zig-zag webs to capture and immobilise prey for them to eat inside their web.

How big is a Hawaiian garden spider?

The Hawaiian garden spider size differs drastically between the males and females. While the females are larger in size, the males look like dwarfs in comparison to them.

The average size of females ranges between 2-2.5 in (5-6.35 cm) while the male grows only up to 0.75 in (1.9 cm). These brown and yellow garden spiders are five times bigger than a beetle and four times smaller than a tarantula.

How fast can a Hawaiian garden spider move?

The exact moving speed of these garden spiders (Argiope appensa) is not known. However, it can be ascertained that these spiders move steadily across their built-webs and dwelling site.

How much does a Hawaiian garden spider weigh?

Due to their extremely small size, with slender legs, the weight of the yellow garden spider is not known.

What are the male and female names of the species?

Male and female Hawaiian spiders are not known by any specific names.

What would you call a baby Hawaiian garden spider?

A baby Hawaiian garden spider is typically known as a spiderling.

What do they eat?

These spiders belonging to the Argiope genus are carnivorous eaters or insectivorous to be specific. Their food includes a range of insect species like flies, bees, moths, mosquitoes, beetles and cockroaches.

Are they poisonous?

These spiders are not poisonous to humans or animals. However, the silk web of these spiders are filled with venom that can entangle and kill insects on which they prey. They have a mild temperament and are rarely aggressive. They can sting humans if angered or threatened repeatedly that can cause temporary skin irritations on the human skin.

Would they make a good pet?

This blackish-brown and yellow garden spider often makes its way into the garden or terrace of humans. They are not separately kept as pets, but they are found in plenty at people's homes and serve as great pest-eaters.

Both humans and these spiders share a cordial relationship without interfering in each other's business. These spiders prey on the insects in the house, while the humans allow them to take shelter and clear away all bugs from the house.

Did you know...

Male spiders either die or are eaten by female spiders after mating.

Argyrodes argentatus, another spider species, often steals the food of the Hawaiian garden spider in Guam.

In Guam, yellow Hawaiian spiders are also known as banana spiders.

In the book 'The Song Of The Dodo', the famous nature writer, David Quammen shares his experience of encountering Hawaiian garden spiders in Guam.

Can a garden spider kill you?

Unlike other venomous spiders, the venom of the Hawaiian garden spider of the Argiope genus is non-poisonous by nature and is not capable of killing a human. If a person's skin touches its web, then it might sting slightly aggressively.

The sting can cause minor swelling, redness, and irritation in the skin, similar to the sting of other insects like bees and beetles.

How do their webs work?

These spider species weave an orb or round web having wheels and spokes in a zig-zag pattern.

The silk pattern is known as stabilimenta or an intricate web decoration that glistens under the sunlight, attracting different insects that fall prey to these spiders or luring away birds and insects from coming close to the spiders.

As soon as an insect gets trapped into the silky web, the sticky silk wrapped in its body immobilises it, following which the spider jumps onto it and releases venomous toxins that kill the prey and helps the spider to liquefy and ingest it easily.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other arthropods from our Huntsman spider facts and grey house spider facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by colouring in one of our free printable hairy spider coloring pages.