---
title: "Painted Cross Spider"
description: "Argiope picta — Insecten en spinnen. Argiope picta is a species of orb web spider found in tropical areas of Queensland, Australia and Papua New Guinea up to the Moluccas."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/painted-cross-spider
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Painted Cross Spider

> Argiope picta — Insecten en spinnen. Argiope picta is a species of orb web spider found in tropical areas of Queensland, Australia and Papua New Guinea up to the Moluccas.

- Scientific name: *Argiope picta*
- Category: `insects` (Insecten en spinnen)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 959
- Wikidata: [Q1307668](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1307668)
- iNaturalist taxon: [349107](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/349107)

## Names

- en: Painted Cross Spider

## Countries with the most observations

AU (726), ID (59), PG (12), SB (4)

## Summary

Argiope picta is a species of orb web spider found in tropical areas of Queensland, Australia and Papua New Guinea up to the Moluccas.
This species is similar in size to the sympatric Argiope aetherea; females can be distinguished from those of A. aetherea via extensive differences in abdominal colouration and patterns. The males of these two species are almost indistinguishable.
Little is known about the biology of A. picta. However, like most orb-web spiders, males are much smaller than females. Females of this species construct web decorations. Spiders from Australia mostly construct their decorations in a vertical…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_picta

## Photo

![Painted Cross Spider](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/painted-cross-spider/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jean-Paul Boerekamps · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192307143

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/painted-cross-spider?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).