This female golden-silk spider is about 1 inch long, whereas the male is about an eighth her size. The spider feeds on insects and waits for them, head down, at the center of the web. This one is seen from the underside; on the upper side, the elongated abdomen is brown with irregular white spots and the cephalothorax is light gray with three black spots on each side. There is a distinctive banded pattern on the legs. These spiders live in swamps and shady woods where they await prey during the day.