Male 1/4-3/8", female3/4-1 1/8". Cephalothorax has short silvery hair. Legs black with reddish of yellow bands near body. Abdomen egg-shaped, conspicuously marked with yellow or orange on black.

Among shrubbery, tall plants, and flowers in meadows and gardens.

Throughout the United States and southern Canada; not common in the Rocky Mountains and Canadian Great Basin area.

Small flying insects.

Female fills spherical egg sac, up to 1" wide, with tough brown papery cover. Female attaches it to one side of the web close to resting position, then dies. Eggs hatch in autumn, young overwinter in sac, then disperse in spring. Male builds web in outlying part of female's web, making a white zigzag band vertically across the middle.

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