This species is also known as the Yellow Garden Spider. The female of is about 1 inch long, while the male is a third her size. The female's body is yellow and black and the legs are black with yellow bands close to the body. The abdomen is oval and has four yellow or white spots on the central black band. The female's web is built vertically to catch flying insects and it spirals outwards from the center. The male builds his web to the side of the females web.

A. aurantia is one of the species that builds stabilimenta into its web. The function of these areas of thicker strands in a zig-zag pattern is unknown. Possible functions are to attract prey, to camouflage the spider against predators, to get rid of excess silk, or to tune the web to attract specific insects (the spiral pattern puts greater tension on the radial threads of the web which then emits higher frequency sounds).

The nest or egg sac is about an inch in diameter and has a brown papery covering. It is filled with eggs and attached to the side of the web. The female can be seen positioned below the nest in this photograph taken in October. She will die before the young hatch and over-winter within the egg sac.

The bottom photograph shows a spider that has wrapped its prey, probably a buckeye butterfly, in silk for storage.