| Cucumber green spider | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Family: | Araneidae |
| Genus: | Araniella |
| Species: | A. cucurbitina |
| Binomial name | |
| Araniella cucurbitina (Clerck, 1757) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Araneus cucurbitinus |
|
The Cucumber green spider (Araniella cucurbitina) is a spider of the Araneidae family. Females grow up to 8 mm, males only up to 5 mm. The spider is mainly found on forest clearings, where it weaves its orb-web between leaves and flowers. These webs are only about 10 cm in diameter.
This spider does not use a hideout, because it is camouflaged by its green colour. Adult spiders first show this color in spring. Freshly hatched spiderlings are red and change to brown until fall. On the end of the abdomen there is a red mark in adults.
These spiders occur in the Palaearctic, although it can be found in parts of North America, where it was probably introduced.
Araniella opisthographa is an almost identical spider which can only be distinguished from A. cucurbitina by a microscopic investigation.[1]