Bug FAQBarn Orbweaver
Araneus cavaticus · Order: Araneae · Family: Araneidae
Also called: Barn Spider, Barn orb-weaver
Barn orbweavers are about 20 mm long and are usually yellow and brown with striped legs. They build their webs in wooden structures such as rafters, barns, and even boats near lakes. They are native to Canada and the United States and catch insects by waiting in a silk-lined hideout and shaking their webs.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Barn orbweavers are mainly yellow and brown with striped legs.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
They are about three-quarters of an inch (20 mm) long.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
Because they build webs in wooden structures, they are commonly seen inside homes and barns.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They often spin webs in wooden human structures like barns and rafters. They are also found on boats near lakes, which gives them their common name.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They wait in a silk-lined hiding spot and capture insects that get caught in their web. They shake or sway their webs to further entangle prey or to test if the disturbance is debris.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females are much larger than males, showing clear sexual dimorphism.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 13 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Kentucky.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where are barn orbweavers found?
They are native to Canada and the United States and are often seen in wooden structures like barns, rafters, and boats near lakes.
Source: Wikipedia
What do they eat?
They wait in a silk-lined hideout and catch insects that become trapped in their web, sometimes shaking the web to secure the prey.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Araneidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_spider
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.